Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy Cambridge
Robin currently works at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, after retiring as Senior Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in September 2003. In 1962, straight from school he joined the Royal Greenwich Observatory. In 1966, after obtaining a BSc at University College London, he was posted to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, S Africa (now the South African Astronomical Observatory) and spent the next 24 years, working first in Pretoria, at the Radcliffe Observatory and then in Cape Town, where he obtained his doctorate in 1981. In 1991 he returned to the RGO in Cambridge, until it closed in 1998, when he moved to Greenwich as Senior Astronomer. While at Greenwich he originated the design of the 33-ton bronze truncated cone at the new Astronomy Centre, completed and opened by the Queen, in 2007. He has authored and co-authored over 120 research papers and articles and used a number of telescopes around the world including the Hubble Space Telescope. His research interests include, the composition of stars, exploding stars, the structure of our Galaxy and galaxies with black holes at their centres. In recent years his interests have turned to public outreach and he has given over 1000 popular lectures on modern astronomy to over 50,000 people, in the UK, S Africa, Hong Kong, China, India and New Zealand, as well as giving courses at Summer Schools in Cambridge and Cape Town University. He has participated in several TV programmes and given a total of 420 TV and Radio interviews. He has also given talks on Cruise Ships and Luxury passenger trains most recently to see the aurora in Norway and Russia. Other interests include archaeology, silversmithing and he currently chairs the PhD student awards committee of the Cambridge Society for Applied Research. In 1981 Robin married the sculptor the late Gill Wiles (1940 – 2014).