Professor Malcolm Longair
Emeritus Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy
Director of Development, Cavendish Laboratory
Professorial Fellow of Clare Hall
CBE, FRS, FRSE
Group: Astrophysics
Address:
Room 918 Rutherford Building,
Cavendish Laboratory,
JJ Thomson Avenue,
Cambridge CB3 0HE.
Tel: +44 (0)1223 765953
Email: msl1000 "at" cam.ac.uk
Group Secretary / Administrator / Personal Assistant:
Karen Scrivener
Tel: +44 (0)1223 337294
Fax: +44 (0)1223 354599
Email: K.Scrivener "at" mrao.cam.ac.uk
Biography:
Malcolm Longair has held many highly respected positions within the fields of physics and astronomy. He was appointed the ninth Astronomer Royal of Scotland in 1980, as well as the Regius Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, and the director of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. He was head of the Cavendish Laboratory from 1997 to 2005. He has served on and chaired many international committees, boards and panels, working with both NASA and the European Space Agency. He has received much recognition for his work over the years, including a CBE in the millennium honours list for his services to astronomy and cosmology.
Research Interests:
My main research interests are in high energy astrophysics and astrophysical cosmology. Over recent years, these have centred on the astrophysics of the most luminous extragalactic radio sources. Most recently, I have become involved in studies of the origins of cosmic magnetism and the capabilities of the SKA in advancing these studies. I have chaired numerous committees for specific science projects, including the Planck and Euclid mission of ESA. A current major project concerns the history of quantum mechanics..
Research Group - Astrophysics
Selected Publications:
Theoretical Concepts in Physics, (revised and enlarged, second edition) 2003. Longair, M.S. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
"HST and UKIRT imaging observations of z~1 6C radio galaxies - II. Galaxy morphologies and the alignment effect", 2005. Inskip, K.J.; Best, P.N.; Longair, M.S.; Röttgering, H.J.A. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 359, 1393-1414.
The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2006. Longair, M.S. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
"Deviations from passive evolution - star formation and the ultraviolet excess in z~1 radio galaxies", 2006. Inskip, K.J.; Best, P.N.; Longair, M.S. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 367, 693-708.
Galaxy Formation, (second edition) 2008. Longair, M.S. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
High Energy Astrophysics, (third edition) 2011. Longair, M.S. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.