Desmond King-Hele facts for kids
Desmond George King-Hele FRS (3 November 1927 at Seaford in Sussex – 25 December 2019) was a British physicist, poet and author who crossed the divide between the arts and science to write extensively about the life of Erasmus Darwin, whom he linked with the romantic poets Shelley, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. In 1957, together with Doreen Gilmour, and as part of the Guided Weapons department of Royal Aircraft Establishment, he wrote a report proposing the use of the Blue Streak missile and Black Knight as a satellite launcher. See also Blue Streak Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Life and career
He was born in Seaford, Sussex, the son of Sidney G. and Bessie (née Sayer) King-Hele and was educated at Epsom College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough in 1948 and stayed there until 1988, researching the gravity of Earth and its upper atmosphere by satellite orbit determination. He was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1971 for his work on the geophysical application of the study of the orbits of artificial satellites. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in March 1966.
He is considered "one of the pioneers of space geodesy". Based on satellite geodesy, King-Hele refined the estimate for Earth's pear shape, finding a 45 m difference between north and south polar radii.
He married Marie Newman in 1954; they had two daughters.
He won the Chree medal and prize in 1971.
In 1973, he correctly predicted that Skylab would re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 1979.
King-Hele died on 25 December 2019.
