Boksenberg, Alexander, 1936 (astronomer)
Biography
Alexander Boksenberg was born on 18th March 1936 and spent his infant to secondary schooling in north London, then university in central London obtaining a Bachelor of Science in 1957 and a Doctorate in Atomic Physics at University College London (UCL) in 1961. In 1960 he married classical pianist Adella Coren Boksenberg, with whom he has two children, Jonathan and Tanya.
Boksenberg is noted for his exceptional contributions to the development and construction of uniquely advanced telescopes, astronomical instrumentation and detector systems for use on the ground and in space and for his landmark discoveries concerning the nature of active galactic nuclei, the makeup and physics of the intergalactic medium and of the interstellar gas in primordial galaxies.
Much of Boksenberg’s early career continued at UCL, where from 1960-1981 he progressed from Research Assistant to Lecturer in Physics, Reader in Physics and Professor of Physics. Overlapping these, from 1969-1981 he was Head of the Ultraviolet and Optical Astronomy Research Group which he established, and also Science Research Council (SRC) Senior Fellow from 1976-1981. In 1960 he had changed from atomic physics to observational astronomy in the broadest sense, inventing and developing new instrumentation of extraordinary sensitivity for space and ground based astronomy and in particular his revolutionary Image Photon Counting System (IPCS) in 1968, which he and then a great many other astronomers used on ground-based telescopes over the globe, as well as being the basis of the Faint Object Camera which was among the first instruments for the Hubble Space Telescope. He is also responsible for the innovative designs of the main spectrographic instruments for the prior International Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite and TD-1A sky-scanning satellite, based on other critical optical equipment which he invented, including the powerful sun-baffle systems for all of these. Additionally, he led reviews on design aspects of several new international ground-based telescopes.
He was made Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from 1981-1996, critically moving its existing telescopes to the Spanish internationalised mountain observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands and then building there the new optical 4.2 metre William Herschel Telescope, whose high performance concept and compact structure he had personally introduced when the original version had been cancelled due to its unaffordable price. From 1981 to 1989 he was also Visiting Professor of Astronomy at the University of Sussex. In 1990 he oversaw the move of the Observatory home base from Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex to a new building successfully established in Cambridge close to the Institute of Astronomy (IoA). In 1993 he was appointed Director also of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and running the UK Infrared Telescope and the giant millimetre-wave James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, while at the same time additionally being the UK Director for construction of the two international optical/infrared 8 metre Gemini Telescopes in Hawai'i and Chile. He was also Executive Editor of Experimental Astronomy (Springer Publishers), Master of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and over 2000-2010 was Chair of the UK National Commission for UNESCO and centrally led a complete reconstruction of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Programme.
Since 1996, he is Honorary Professor of Experimental Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, and additionally was Research Professor and PPARC Senior Research Fellow at the IoA from 1996 to 1999 and now is continuing as Professor Emeritus. He has over 240 publications in learned journals.
He has been awarded, inter alia, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Docteur Honoris Causa Observatoire de Paris, DSc Honoris Causa University of Sussex, the Royal Society Hughes Medal, the Institute of Physics Glazebrook Medal and Prize, the Royal Astronomical Society Jackson Gwilt Medal, and has Asteroid Boksenberg named by the International Astronomical Union.
Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:
BBC Radio 4 programme 'Start the Week', 1993-11-29
Broadcast on 29 November 1993, featuring amongst others the Director of the RGO, Alexander Boksenberg.
Correspondence with Gascoigne and Boksenberg, 1974-01-25 - 1974-02-13
A copy of a letter from Redman to S.C.G. Gascoigne, 25 January 1974, regarding progress at Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. Ltd, with a postscript concerning A. Boksenberg's work at Palomar; copies of Redman's letters to A. Boksenberg, 25 January and 6 February 1974, on Boksenberg's Image Photon Counting System; and a copy of a letter from Boksenberg to Gascoigne, 13 February 1974, containing information on the system.
John Dunn at the RGO (BBC Radio 2 Interview), 1985-03 - 1985-04
The John Dunn radio show recorded at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He interviews staff about the work of the various departments: John Pilkington on time; Dr Paul Murdin on La Palma; Janet Dudley on its history; Heather Cooper on amateur astronomy; Prof. Alex Boksenberg on the future of the RGO; Dr George Wilking on the Almanacs; Charles Parker on publicity; Dr J. Wall on astrophysics; Dave King on infrared and optical astronomy. Also, handwritten transcript and outline.
Letter from Alexander Boksenberg, 1974-08-01
A copy of a letter from Alexander Boksenberg to John Hutchinson, University College London, enclosing the three spectra for the Northern Hemisphere Observatory report he had requested.
Letter from B.E.J. Pagel, 1974-02-22
Papers of Alexander Boksenberg, 1981 - 1996
Records created by Alexander Boksenberg while Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, 1981-1996.
The collection is currently uncatalogued. A partial boxlist is available on application to the RGO archivist.
Recordings of the proceedings of the Hanbury Brown Conference, Herstmonceux Castle, 23-26 Sep. 1986, 1986-09-23 - 1986-09-26
Report on research at the Observatories, 1994
A published report on in-house research carried out during 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1993 at the observatories under the Directorship of Alec Boksenberg: the Royal Greenwich Observatory; the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; the Isaac Newton Group; and the Joint Astronomy Centre.
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Astronomy 1