Sir Martin Ryle—Nobel Laureate and Astronomer Royal

Abstract

Martin Ryle, British astrophysicist, shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in physics with Antony Hewish (1924) “for their pioneering research in radio astrophysics.” Ryle was awarded “for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique.” The works of both men represented an important step forward in the knowledge of the universe. Ryle helped to develop revolutionary telescope systems; he used them for the accurate location of weak radio sources and made possible the observations of the most distant galaxies of the universe. The first aperture synthesis telescope was constructed and used in 1954. This instrument was an ingenious tool for increasing the sharpness with which radio sources could be detected. Martin Ryle was born on Sept. 27, 1918, in Brighton, Sussex, in southern England (50 miles south of London). He was a member of a most illustrious English family and son of a physician who was professor of social medicine at Oxford University. Young Ryle received his early education at home. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to London. Later, he went to a preparatory school and then to Bradfield College. In 1936, he enrolled at Oxford University; he graduated in 1939 with a degree from the School of Natural Sciences. Between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, Ryle worked on military airborne radar and radio at the Telecommunications Research Establishment at Malvern (west central England), where he met his colleague Antony Hewish. After the war in 1945, Ryle completed a fellowship at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. He remained at Cambridge University and spent much of his time at the Cavendish Laboratory and at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. In 1948, Ryle became a lecturer in physics at Trinity College. He was named a fellow of the college in 1949 and became a professor in 1959. He was the first professor of radio astronomy at Cambridge University. Besides the Nobel Prize, Ryle received many honors and awards, including honorary degrees from the universities of Strathclyde (western Scotland), Oxford (England), and Toruń (Poland). He was a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors from his native land included memberships in the Royal Society (1952) and knighthood (1966). From 1972 to 1982, he was Astronomer Royal. On Oct. 16, 1984, Ryle died of lung cancer at his home in Cambridge. In 1987, Sweden issued a set of stamps to honor Nobel Prize winners in physics. One of the stamps honors Ryle.