Alumnus Named UK’s Astronomer Royal in Historic First

BY: .

The newly-appointed Astronomer Royal in the United Kingdom, an honorary position advising the British monarch on astronomical subjects, is UKZN alumnus Professor Michele Dougherty, the first woman to be appointed to the post since its creation in 1675.

A professor at Imperial College London where she has crafted a career over 35 years, Dougherty’s many achievements include taking charge of the magnetometer instruments on board the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer of the European Space Agency.

She succeeds Lord Martin Rees who has been in the position for 30 years.

In this honorary role, Dougherty plans to focus on outreach, engaging the public on the wonder of astronomy and science, and its potential to provide real returns for the UK economy.

This complements Dougherty’s current positions as Executive Chair of UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), President-elect of the Institute of Physics, and Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London. At the STFC, she is responsible for the Council’s work supporting the UK’s access to large-scale international scientific infrastructures, operating major national facilities, and awarding grants in the physical sciences. Leading 3 000 people, she aims to ensure the STFC is affordable and resilient amid difficult financial times.

Born in Johannesburg, Dougherty and her sister were raised in Durban, where their late father, Professor Brian Dougherty, worked in the civil engineering departments at both the University of Natal and University of Durban-Westville, serving as head of department at the latter.

His interest in astronomy inspired his daughters, with Dougherty recalling the construction of a telescope in her childhood, through which she saw the moons of Jupiter and Saturn that her work has now probed through the deployment of unmanned spacecraft carrying magnetometers she has helped develop and lead.

A career highlight was the Cassini spacecraft’s magnetometer, for which she was the principal investigator overseeing 40 scientists, detecting signatures suggesting the presence of an atmosphere on one of its moons, Enceladus, confirmed on a subsequent flyby requested by Dougherty.

Dougherty attended Gordon Road Girls’ School followed by Mitchell High School, where physics and chemistry were not offered. Excelling at mathematics and biology, and unsure of her career plans, Dougherty took her father’s advice and registered for a Bachelor of Science at the University of Natal, being admitted despite lacking Physics and Chemistry high school subjects.

Persevering through the challenge of university-level science subjects with her father’s help, Dougherty went on to spend eight years at the University, completing her honours in Physics, and her PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1989. She recalled having a great deal of fun as a student, enjoying her academic path although it was demanding.

“My education opened up possibilities that would not have opened up otherwise,” said Dougherty.

Keen to put her mathematics knowledge to work in technical applications, Dougherty left South Africa for a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, after which she took up a post at Imperial College London. Six months in, thanks to a colleague who perceived Dougherty’s leadership ability, she became involved in preparing a magnetic field model for the Ulysses spacecraft’s Jupiter flyby, leading to a focus on magnetometers that has shaped her expertise since 1991.

Accustomed to being in environments where she was in the minority - Dougherty was one of only a handful of female students in a class of over 400 in her first year at university - she has always ensured that any opportunity she accepted was offered because of her qualifications, and not simply her gender.

Even in her appointment as the Astronomer Royal, Dougherty points to women who have shattered glass ceilings before her. She sees this role as an opportunity to promote the value of a career in the sciences and motivate women who can see folk similar to them occupying senior, scientific leadership roles.

Dougherty considers Emeritus Professor Margy Kivelson of the University of California, Los Angeles, the principal investigator for the magnetometer on the Galileo Orbiter, a source of friendship and inspiration.

Dougherty considers herself fortunate to have worked with exemplary people throughout her career and is remembered fondly by former classmates and professors. Her lecturers included the eminent and highly rated late Professor Jim McKenzie, an expert in space plasma physics. Emeritus Professor Manfred Hellberg recalled her intelligence, determination and work ethic that shaped what he called a stellar career.

Dougherty still visits South Africa regularly to see her sister and her family, and as part of work on projects such as the Square Kilometre Array.

Words: Christine Cuénod

Photograph: Courtesy of the Science and Technology Facilities Council