HC Deb 01 December 1971 vol 827 cc123-4W
Mr. Bishop

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will detail in the OFFICIAL REPORT the names of the present and former Directors of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and Astronomers Royal.

Mrs. Thatcher

The present Astronomer Royal and Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory is Sir Richard v.d.R. Woolley. His predecessors, in order of appointment, were:

John Flamsteed 1675–1719
Edmund Halley 1720–1742
James Bradley 1742–1762
Nathaniel Bliss 1762–1764
Neville Maskelyne 1765–1811
John Pond 1811–1835
Sir George Airy 1835–1881
Sir William Christie 1881–1910
Sir Frank Dyson 1910–1933
Sir Harold Spencer Jones 1933–1955