Professor James Hough awarded Herschel Medal
Professor James Hough, Director of the University's Centre for Astronomy Research, has been honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) for his contribution to astronomy. The RAS has just announced that it will award the Herschel Medal to Professor Hough at the 2010 National Astronomy Meeting to be held in Glasgow from 12-16 April. The award is for Professor Hough's world-leading contribution to astronomy in astronomical polarimetry (where scientists measure the orientation of oscillations in light and other electromagnetic waves). He is an instrument builder, observational astronomer and research leader working on specific projects and facilities for observatories including the Anglo-Australian Observatory, United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and Gemini on Hawaii. Professor Hough's work includes interstellar gas and dust (nebulae), the nuclei of active galaxies, young stars and extra solar planets. He has also taken a special interest in the role astronomical polarimetry can play in the search for extraterrestrial life by using the polarimetric signal of various biological markers.