Royal Astronomical Society

This article is about the British Society. For the Canadian Society, see Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

The entrance to the Royal Astronomical Society at Burlington House.

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research (mainly carried on at the time by 'gentleman astronomers' rather than professionals). It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV. A Supplemental Charter in 1915 opened up the fellowship to women. It is the UK adhering organisation to the International Astronomical Union and a member of the Science Council, and encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science.^[1] Meetings are held in Burlington House, in Piccadilly, London and across the United Kingdom. They are also involved in the production of astronomical journals and periodicals. The Society has over 3000 members,^[1] around a third of whom live outside the United Kingdom. In addition, those members of the public who have an interest in astronomy and geophysics and wish to support the work of the Society may become Friends of the RAS.

Publications

One of the major activities of the RAS is publishing refereed journals. It currently publishes two world-leading primary research journals, MNRAS in astronomy and (in association with the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft) GeoJI in geophysics, and A&G, which publishes review and other articles of wide interest in a 'glossy' format. The full list of journals published (both currently and historically) by the RAS, with abbreviations as used for the NASA ADS bibliographic codes is:

• Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society (MmRAS): 1822–1978
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS): Since 1827
• Geophysical Supplement to Monthly Notices (MNRAS): 1922–1957
• Geophysical Journal (GeoJ): 1958–1988
• Geophysical Journal International (GeoJI): Since 1989 (volume numbering continues from GeoJ)
• Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society (QJRAS): 1960–1996
• Astronomy & Geophysics (A&G): Since 1997 (volume numbering continues from QJRAS)

Fellowship

Members of the RAS are styled fellows, and may use the postnominals FRAS. Fellowship is open to anyone over the age of 18 who is considered acceptable to the society. As a result of the society's foundation in a time before there were many professional astronomers, no formal qualifications are required. However, around three quarters of fellows are professional astronomers or geophysicists. The society acts as the professional body for astronomers and geophysicists in the UK and fellows may apply for the Science Council's Chartered Scientist status through the society. The fellowship passed 3,000 for the first time during 2003.

Friends of the Royal Astronomical Society

In 2009 a new initiative was launched for those with an interest in astronomy and geophysics but without professional qualifications or specialist knowledge in the subject. Such people may join the Friends of the RAS, which offers popular talks, visits and social events.

Meetings

The Society regularly organises monthly discussion meetings on topics in astronomy and geophysics, which are usually held in London on the second Friday of every month from September through to June. (Reports of the meetings appear in The Observatory.) It also sponsors the RAS National Astronomy Meeting, a lengthier meeting of professional astronomers held each spring, and occasionally meetings in other parts of the UK.

Library

The Royal Astronomical Society has a more comprehensive collection of books and journals in astronomy and geophysics than the libraries of most universities and research institutions. The library receives some 300 current periodicals in astronomy and geophysics and contains more than 10,000 books from popular level to conference proceedings. Its collection of astronomical rare books is second only to that of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh in the UK. The RAS library is a major resource not just for the Society but also the wider community of astronomers, geophysicists, and historians.^[2]

Education

The society is also involved in promoting astronomy to members of the general public through their various outreach pages for students, teachers, the public and media researchers. The RAS has an advisory role in relation to United Kingdom public examinations, such as GCSEs and A Levels.

Associated groups

The RAS sponsors a number of topical groups, many of them in interdisciplinary areas where the group is jointly sponsored by another learned society or professional body:

• The Astrobiology Society of Britain
• The Astroparticle Physics Group (with the Institute of Physics)
• The Astrophysical Chemistry Group (with the Royal Society of Chemistry)
• The British Geophysical Association (with the Geological Society of London)
• The Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial group (generally known by the acronym MIST)
• The UK Planetary Forum
• The UK Solar Physics group

Presidents

The first person to hold the title of President of the Royal Astronomical Society was William Herschel, though he never chaired a meeting, and since then the post has been held by many distinguished astronomers. The post is currently offered for a period of two years.

Recent Presidents

• 2010– Roger Davies
• 2008–2010 Andrew Fabian
• 2006–2008 Michael Rowan-Robinson
• 2004–2006 Kathryn Whaler
• 2002–2004 Jocelyn Bell Burnell
• 2000–2002 Nigel Weiss

1899–2000

• 1998–2000 David Williams
• 1996–1998 Malcolm Longair
• 1994–1996 Carole Jordan
• 1992–1994 Martin Rees
• 1990–1992 Kenneth Pounds
• 1989–1990 Roger John Tayler
• 1985–1987 Donald Lynden-Bell
• 1981–1983 Arnold Wolfendale
• 1979–1981 Michael Seaton
• 1975–1977 Francis Graham-Smith
• 1971–1973 Fred Hoyle
• 1969–1971 Bernard Lovell
• 1965–1967 Thomas George Cowling
• 1963–1965 Richard van der Riet Woolley
• 1961–1963 William McCrea
• 1959–1961 Roderick Oliver Redman
• 1957–1959 William Herbert Steavenson
• 1955–1957 Harold Jeffreys
• 1953–1955 Harold Spencer Jones
• 1951–1953 Herbert Dingle
• 1949–1951 William Marshall Smart
• 1945–1947 Harry Hemley Plaskett
• 1943–1945 Arthur Milne
• 1939–1941 Henry Crozier Keating Plummer
• 1937–1939 Harold Spencer Jones
• 1935–1937 John Henry Reynolds
• 1933–1935 Frederick John Marrian Stratton
• 1929–1931 Andrew Claude De Lacherois Crommelin
• 1927–1929 Theodore Evelyn Reece Phillips
• 1925–1927 James Jeans
• 1923–1925 John Louis Emil Dreyer
• 1921–1923 Arthur Eddington
• 1919–1921 Alfred Fowler
• 1917–1919 Percy Alexander MacMahon
• 1915–1917 Ralph Allen Sampson
• 1913–1915 Edmond Herbert Grove-Hills
• 1911–1913 Frank Watson Dyson
• 1909–1911 David Gill
• 1903–1905 Herbert Hall Turner
• 1901–1903 James Glaisher
• 1900–1901 Edward Ball Knobel
• 1899–1900 George Darwin

1821–1899

• 1895–1897 Andrew Ainslie Common
• 1892–1893 Edward Ball Knobel
• 1890–1892 William Christie
• 1886–1888 James Glaisher
• 1884–1886 Edwin Dunkin
• 1882–1884 Edward Stone
• 1878–1880 Lord Lindsay
• 1876–1878 William Huggins
• 1874–1876 John Couch Adams
• 1872–1874 Arthur Cayley
• 1870–1872 William Lassell
• 1868–1870 Admiral Manners
• 1866–1868 Charles Pritchard
• 1861–1863 John Lee
• 1859–1861 Reverend Robert Main
• 1857–1858 George Bishop
• 1851–1853 John Couch Adams
• 1849–1850 Admiral William Henry Smyth
• 1847–1848 John Herschel
• 1845–1847 George Airy (7 years)
• 1842–1844 Francis Baily
• 1841–1842 John Wrottesley
• 1839–1840 John Herschel
• 1835 Francis Baily (4 years)
• 1831 John Brinkley
• 1829–1831 James South
• 1828–1829? Francis Baily
• 1827–1828? John Herschel
• 1823–1825 Henry Thomas Colebrooke
• 1821–1823 William Herschel (first president)

Medals

The highest award of the Royal Astronomical Society is its Gold Medal. Among the recipients best known to the general public are Albert Einstein in 1926, and Stephen Hawking in 1985.

Other awards include the Eddington Medal, the Herschel Medal, the Chapman Medal, the Price Medal and the Jackson-Gwilt Medal. Lectureships include the Harold Jeffreys Lectureship in geophysics, the George Darwin Lectureship in astronomy, and the Gerald Whitrow Lectureship in cosmology.

Other activities

The Society occupies premises at Burlington House, London, where a substantial library and meeting rooms are available to fellows and, by arrangement, other interested parties. The Society represents the interests of astronomy and geophysics to UK national and regional, and European government and related bodies, and maintains a press office, through which it keeps the media and the public at large informed of relevant developments in these sciences. The society also allocates grants to worthy causes in astronomy and geophysics, and assists in the management of the Paneth Trust ^[3]

See also

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References

1. ^ ^{a b} RAS Website "About the RAS" page;
2. ^ RAS Website "RAS Library and archives;
3. ^ RAS Website "Grants for Studies in Astronomy and Geophysics"

External links

• The Royal Astronomical Society
• Complete list of Gold Medal recipients
• Astronomy & Geophysics
• Geophysical Journal International
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• The Astrobiology Society of Britain
• The Astrophysical Chemistry Group
• The British Geophysical Association
• Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial
• UK Planetary Forum
• UK Solar Physics