Born in Croydon in 1929, George Wilkins was educated at West Thornton Elementary School and Whitgift Middle School. In 1948 he gained an upper 2nd class degree in physics and opted to take a further year of mathematics for which he achieved a 1st class degree in 1949. The award of two-year research grant enabled him to embark on a PhD under Professor A.T. Price analysing daily variations in the Earth’s magnetic field. In October 1951, George joined the NAO as a scientific officer. Immersed in the disciplines of positional astronomy and navigation, George rose to Superintendent of HMNAO in 1970, a post he held until retirement.

The three main areas of his career centred around his work for the H.M. Nautical Almanac Office, the Satellite Laser Ranging Group and project MERIT (Monitoring Earth Rotation and Intercomparison of Techniques), and the Library and Archives of the RGO, which George was responsible for from 1970. Meticulous in nature, he was heavily involved in proofreading the offices’ publications, and was at the forefront of its moves to acquire an electronic computer, which greatly eased the load on human computers.

In addition to his scientific work, George was active in staff relations and an enthusiastic participant in the social and sporting life of the Observatory. He wrote the monumental memoir ‘A Personal History of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux Castle 1948 - 1990’, a wonderful resource for the 20th century history of the Observatory, which is available online at https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/manuscripts-university-archives/significant-archival-collections/royal-0 and in hardcopy (at RGO 94/4/3/1).