Martin Ryle

Sir Martin Ryle (September 27, 1918 – October 14, 1984) was a British radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems and used them for accurate location of weak radio sources. With improved equipment, he observed the most distant known galaxies of the universe. He was Astronomer Royal from 1972 to 1982.

Ryle and Antony Hewish shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974, the first Nobel prize awarded in recognition of astronomical research. In addition, Ryle won the Hughes Medal in 1954, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1964, the Henry Draper Medal in 1965, and the Bruce Medal in 1974.