Margaret Burbidge (nee Eleanor Margaret Peachey) (born August 12, 1919) is a British astrophysicist, noted for original research and holding many administrative posts, including director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... An astrophysicist is a person whose profession is astrophysics. ... Royal Observatory, Greenwich The original site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), which was built as a workplace for the Astronomer Royal, was on a hill in Greenwich Park in Greenwich, London, overlooking the River Thames. ...

During her career she served at the University of London Observatory, Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago, Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England, the California Institute of Technology, and from 1979-1988 was first director of the Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) where she worked from 1962 on and also helped develop instruments for the Hubble Space Telescope. Currently, she is a professor emeritus of physics at UCSD and continues to be active in research. Senate House, designed by Charles Holden home to the universitys central administration offices and its library The University of London is a federation of colleges which together constitute one of the worlds largest universities. ... The 102-cm (40 inch) refractor at the Yerkes Observatory. ... The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois. ... The Cavendish Laboratory is Cambridge Universitys Department of Physics, and is part of the universitys School of Physical Sciences. ... This article is about Cambridge, England; see also other places called Cambridge. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of California, San Diego (popularly known as UCSD) is a public, coeducational university located in La Jolla, California. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important telescopes in the history of astronomy. ...

After her PhD at London Observatory in 1947, in the early 1950s Margaret Burbidge did research in collaboration with her husband Geoffrey Burbidge (a theoretical astrophysicist), Fred Hoyle, and William Alfred Fowler, that in 1957 showed the famous result that all of the elements except the very lightest are produced by nuclear processes inside stars. In her later research she was one of the first to measure the rotation curves of galaxies and to measure their masses and was one of the pioneers of the study of quasars. 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge (September 24, 1925 – ) is a British-American physics professor in the University of California. ... Sir Fred Hoyle (June 24, 1915 – August 20, 2001) was a British astronomer, notable for a number of his theories that run counter to current astronomical opinion, and a writer of science fiction, including a number of books co-authored by his son Geoffrey Hoyle. ... There is another William Fowler who was a Scottish poet and uncle of William Drummond of Hawthornden William Alfred Willy Fowler (August 9, 1911 – March 14, 1995) was an American astrophysicist. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Generally, an element is a basic part that is the foundation of something. ... Nuclear physics is the branch of physics concerned with the nucleus of the atom. ... This article is about a celestial body. ... This view, taken with infrared light, is a false-color image of a quasar-starburst tandem with the most luminous starburst ever seen in such a combination. ...

Among the prizes she has won are: with her husband, the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy in 1959; the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 1984; and the Catherine Wolfe Bruce medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1982. The Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. ... The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) was founded in San Francisco in 1889. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Burbidge was turned down for a Carnegie Fellowship in 1947 because this fellowship would have meant that she would have had to observe at Mount Wilson observatory, which was reserved for men only at that time (she later used these telescopes by applying for observing time using her husband's Geoffrey Burbidge's name and formally accompanying him onto the mountain). Her directorship of the Royal Greenwich Observatory was the first time in 300 years that that directorship was not associated with the post of the Astronomer Royal, which was given to radio astronomer and later Nobel prize winner Martin Ryle instead. Experiences such as these turned Burbidge into one of the foremost and most influential personalities in the fight to end the discrimination of women in Astronomy. Consequently, in 1972 she turned down the Annie J. Cannon Prize for Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society because it was awarded to women only: "it is high time that discrimination in favor of, as well as against women in professional life be removed". 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mount Wilson lies in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. ... Astronomer Royal was originally the title of the director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, but since 1972 it has simply been an honorary title. ... Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ... Sir Martin Ryle (September 27, 1918 – October 14, 1984) was a British radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see e. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The main aim of the AAS is provide a political voice for its members and organise their lobbying. ...

In 1983 she was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she was also vice-president and president of the American Astronomical Society. 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an organization that promotes cooperation between scientists, defends scientific freedom, encourages scientific responsibility and supports scientific education for the betterment of all humanity. ...

In 1985 she was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Reagan to acknowledge her scientific accomplishments. 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science, also called the Presidential Medal of Science, is an honor given by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social... Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: 20 January 1981 – 20 January 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: 6 February 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: 5 June 2004 Place of death: Bel-Air...

The asteroid 5490 Burbidge is named after her. An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ...

External links

• Autobiography in 1994 Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Biography from the George Mason University
• Biography from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Article from the UCSD Times
• short biography
• personal web page
• personal web page at UCSD physics