10 Facts About Paul Murdin

Paul Geoffrey Murdin was born on 5 January 1942 and is a British astronomer.

Paul Murdin identified the first clear candidate for a black hole, Cygnus X-1, with his colleague Louise Webster.

Paul Murdin studied Mathematics and Physics at the universities of Oxford and Rochester.

Paul Murdin left to study a PhD at Rochester and returned to the RGO in 1970 as a research fellow.

Paul Murdin decided, with Louise Webster, to investigate whether the star was a binary star, possibly with one of the pair being the X-ray source as well as a radio source, but not being visible.

Paul Murdin returned to the Royal Greenwich Observatory and worked on developing the UK-Netherlands observatory at La Palma, which became the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes.

Paul Murdin was its first head of operations until 1987.

Paul Murdin was President of the European Astronomical Society and Treasurer of the Royal Astronomical Society, during which time membership increased, its public outreach programme was established and its journal became the most prominent worldwide.

Paul Murdin presided over or chaired various committees of the International Astronomical Union.

Paul Murdin has authored and edited academic and popular books on astronomy and has written for many journals and newspapers, and well as having appeared regularly on television and radio programmes.