Martin Rees

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1942-06-23) 23 June 1942 (age 83)
York, England
Political partyNone (crossbencher)
Spouse(s)
Dame Caroline Humphrey, Lady Rees
​
​
(m. 1986)​
Dennis Sciama[3]
Doctoral students
Martin Rees' voice
Recorded June 2010 from the BBC Radio 4 programme the Reith Lectures

Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, (born 23 June 1942) is a British

President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010.[13][14] He has received various physics awards including the Wolf Prize in Physics
in 2024 for fundamental contributions to high-energy astrophysics, galaxies and structure formation, and cosmology.

Early life and education

Rees was born on 23 June 1942 in

black holes, and a host of other revelations.[16]

Career

After holding

postdoctoral research positions in the United Kingdom and the United States, he was a professor at Sussex University, during 1972–1973. He later moved to Cambridge, where he was the Plumian Professor at the University of Cambridge until 1991, and the director of the Institute of Astronomy
.

He was professor of astronomy at

Robinson College and Jesus College, Cambridge.[22]

Rees is a member of the Board of the

Science Museum, the Gates Cambridge Trust and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
.

His doctoral students have included Roger Blandford,[3][4] Craig Hogan,[5][6] Nick Kaiser[25] Priyamvada Natarajan,[7] and James E. Pringle.

Research

Rees is the author of more than 500 research papers.[26] He is an author of books on astronomy and science intended for the lay public and gives many public lectures and broadcasts. In 2010 he was invited to deliver the Reith Lectures for the BBC,[27] now published as From Here to Infinity: Scientific Horizons.

Rees has made contributions to the origin of

optical illusion caused by an object moving partly in the direction of the observer.[30]

Since the 1990s, Rees has worked on

gamma-ray bursts, especially in collaboration with Péter Mészáros,[31] and on how the "cosmic dark ages" ended when the first stars formed. Since the 1970s he has been interested in anthropic reasoning, and the possibility that our visible universe is part of a vaster "multiverse".[32][33]

Public engagement

In addition to expansion of his scientific interests, Rees has written and spoken extensively about the problems and challenges of the 21st century, and interfaces between science, ethics, and politics.[34][35][36][37]

In his books

bioengineering and artificial intelligence. He estimated a 50% chance of human extinction during the 21st century, but remains optimistic that if the risks are successfully managed, technology could drastically improve standards of living.[38]

In 2007, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on 21st Century Science: Cosmic Perspective and Terrestrial Challenges at the University of St Andrews.[39] He made two TED talks on existential risks.[40]

Rees thinks the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is worthwhile and has chaired the advisory board for the "Breakthrough Listen" project, a programme of SETI investigations funded by the Russian/US investor Yuri Milner.[41]

In August 2014, Rees was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[42]

To mark the 300th anniversary of the Board of Longitude in 2014, he instigated a programme of new challenge prizes of £5-10m under the name "Longitude Prize 2014" for which he chairs the advisory board. The themes of the first two prizes are the reduction of inappropriate antibiotic use, and enhancing the safety and independence of dementia sufferers. The Longitude Prize on Dementia was announced in 2022.[43]

In 2015, he was co-author of the report that launched the

baseload electricity less costly than electricity from coal by the year 2025.[44]

In his general writings and in the House of Lords, his focus has been on the uses and abuses of advanced technology and on issues such as assisted dying, preservation of dark skies, and reforms to broaden the post-16 and undergraduate curricula in the UK.[45] He is also a current member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.[46]

Selected bibliography

Honours and awards

He has been president of the

Science Academy of Turkey[48] and the Japan Academy. He became president of the Royal Society on 1 December 2005[49][50] and continued until the end of the Society's 350th Anniversary Celebrations in 2010. In 2011, he was awarded the Templeton Prize.[51] In 2005, Rees was elevated to a life peerage, sitting as a crossbencher in the House of Lords as Baron Rees of Ludlow, of Ludlow in the County of Shropshire.[52][53] In 2005, he was awarded the Crafoord Prize.[54]
Other awards and honours include:

The Asteroid 4587 Rees and the Sir Martin Rees Academic Scholarship at Shrewsbury International School are named in his honour.

In June 2022, to celebrate his 80th birthday, Rees was the subject of the BBC programme The Sky at Night, in conversation with Professor Chris Lintott.[70]

Personal life

Rees married the anthropologist Caroline Humphrey in 1986.[1] He is an atheist but has criticized militant atheists for being too hostile to religion.[71][72][73] Rees is a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party, but has no party affiliation when sitting in the House of Lords.[74][75]

See also

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.32152
    (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c "List of Fellows". raeng.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d Martin Rees at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^
    EThOS uk.bl.ethos.450028. Archived from the original
    on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  5. ^
    EThOS uk.bl.ethos.258089
    .
  6. ^ a b Hogan, Craig James. "Curriculum vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  7. ^ a b "CURRICULUM VITAE: Priyamvada Natarajan". Yale CampusPress. Yale University. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Martin Rees – the Mathematics Genealogy Project".
  9. ^ "Curriculum Vitae – Nicholas Kaiser" (PDF). ifa.hawaii.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  10. S2CID 248066390
    . Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Portraits of Astronomers Royal". rmg.co.uk. Royal Museums Greenwich. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Astronomer Royal". The British Monarchy. Royal Household. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  13. ^ "Interviews with Charlie Rose, 2003 and 2008". charlierose.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. accessed 31 August 2014
  14. ^ Anon (2010). "New Statesman Interviews Martin Rees". New Statesman. accessed 31 August 2014
  15. ^ GRO Register of Births: SEP 1942 9c 1465 YORK – Martin J. Rees, mmn=Bett
  16. ^ a b "Templeton Prize Winners – Discover Laureates From 1973 to Today". Templeton Prize.
  17. ^ Rees, Martin (1967). Physical Processes in Radio Sources and the Intergalactic Medium. copac.jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Inventory: Martin Rees". Financial Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2014.(subscription required)
  19. ^ "Master & fellows". Darwin College Cambridge. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  20. ^ "Honorary Fellows". www.kings.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Honorary Fellow | Clare Hall". www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  22. ^ "Honorary and St Radegund Fellows". Jesus College Cambridge. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  23. ^ Lewsey, Fred (25 November 2012). "Humanity's last invention and our uncertain future". Research News. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  24. ^ Who We Are, Future of Life Institute, 2014, archived from the original on 7 May 2014, retrieved 7 May 2014
  25. ^ "Nick Kaiser | Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics". higgs.ph.ed.ac.uk. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  26. ^ Martin Rees publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  27. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – The Reith Lectures, Martin Rees – Scientific Horizons, The Scientific Citizen". BBC. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Lord Martin Rees". Academy of Achievement. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  29. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.22.090184.002351
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  31. doi:10.1086/171813
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  32. S2CID 4363262
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  33. ISBN 978-0-7382-0033-0
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  34. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  35. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  36. James Martin 21st Century School
    , 21school.ox.ac.uk, February 2009.
  37. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  38. ^ Illing, Sean (18 October 2018). "Cosmologist Martin Rees gives humanity a 50-50 chance of surviving the 21st century". Vox. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  39. ^ "The St Andrews Gifford Lectures". st-andrews.ac.uk. University of St Andrews.
  40. ^ Rees, Martin. "Martin Rees | Speaker". TED. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  41. ^ Interview with Paul Broks Archived 23 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Prospectmagazine.co.uk; accessed 31 August 2014.
  42. ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  43. ^ "£4m prize offers hope to people with dementia to stay independent". UK Research and Innovation. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  44. Guardian News Media
    . Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  45. ^ "Lord Rees of Ludlow | Spoken contributions". UK Parliament.
  46. ^ "Science and Technology Committee - Membership - Committees - UK Parliament".
  47. ^ "M.J. Rees". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  48. ^ "Foreign Honorary Members". Bilim Akademisi. Archived from the original on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  49. ^ "Rees tipped to head science body". BBC News. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  50. ^ Martin Rees nominated for presidency of the Royal Society Archived 1 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, royalsoc.ac.uk, 29 March 2005; accessed 31 August 2014.
  51. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  52. ^ "State: Crown Office". The London Gazette. No. 57753. 9 September 2005. p. 11653. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  53. ^ Sir Martin Rees appointed to the House of Lords Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, admin.cam.ac.uk, 1 August 2005; accessed 31 August 2014.
  54. ^ Professor Sir Martin Rees wins Crafoord Prize Archived 29 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine, admin.cam.ac.uk, 10 February 2005; accessed 31 August 2014.
  55. ^ "Martin John Rees". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 7 August 2023.
  56. ^ "Martin J. Rees". www.nasonline.org.
  57. ^ "No. 52935". The London Gazette. 29 May 1992. p. 9177.
  58. ^ "APS Member History".
  59. ^ "Honorary doctorates – Uppsala University, Sweden". www.uu.se. 9 June 2023.
  60. American Academy of Achievement
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  61. ^ "Albert Einstein World Award of Science 2003". Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  62. ^ "No. 57753". The London Gazette. 9 September 2005. p. 11653.
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  65. ^ "ICTP - The Medallists". www.ictp.it.
  66. ^ "European Astronomical Society 2020 prizes" (PDF). European Astronomical Society. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  67. ^ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  68. ^ Copley Medal 2023
  69. ^ "Martin Rees Wolf Prize Laureate in Physics 2024". Wolf Prize. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  70. ^ "BBC Four – The Sky at Night, The Astronomer Royal at 80". BBC.
  71. ^ "Templeton Report: Martin J. Rees Wins 2011 Templeton Prize". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  72. TheGuardian.com
    .
  73. ^ "Can humanity survive the future?". Financial Times. October 2018. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2020. Rees, while stating he is an atheist, declares that he shares a sense of "mystery" with those who believe in God.
  74. ^ "Martin Rees: 'We shouldn't attach any weight to what Hawking says". The Independent. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  75. ^ Radford, Tim (2 December 2005). "Guardian profile: Martin Rees". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2020.

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Professional and academic associations
Preceded by 60th President of the Royal Society
2005–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by 78th President of the Royal Astronomical Society
1992–1994 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by 37th
Master of Trinity College, Cambridge

2004–2012 		Succeeded by
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Goodlad
 Gentlemen
Baron Rees of Ludlow 		Followed by
The Lord Turner of Ecchinswell
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