Richard van der Riet Woolley facts for kids

Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley was an important English astronomer. He was born on April 24, 1906, and passed away on December 24, 1986. He is best known for being the eleventh Astronomer Royal, a very special job in the United Kingdom.

Life and Work of a Stargazer

Richard Woolley was born in Weymouth, a town in Dorset, England. When he was a teenager, his family moved to South Africa. There, he went to the University of Cape Town. He studied Mathematics and Physics and earned his degree.

After that, Woolley returned to the United Kingdom. He continued his studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he earned more degrees. He even spent two years working at the famous Mount Wilson Observatory before coming back to the UK in 1931.

From 1937 to 1939, he worked at the Cambridge Observatory. He was a Senior Assistant Observer there.

Studying the Sun and Beyond

Richard Woolley was especially interested in solar astronomy, which is the study of the Sun. In 1939, he became the director of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, Australia. This observatory focuses on studying the Sun.

Later, he came back to the United Kingdom for a very important role. From 1956 to 1971, he served as the Astronomer Royal. This is a historic position, acting as the Queen's or King's official astronomer.

Woolley was recognized for his great work. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1953. This is a big honor for scientists. In 1971, he also won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

After his time as Astronomer Royal, he moved back to South Africa. From 1972 to 1976, he directed the new South African Astronomical Observatory. He retired in the late 1970s and lived out his retirement years in South Africa.

For his contributions, Richard Woolley was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1953. He was also knighted in 1963, which means he was given the title "Sir."

What He Thought About Space Travel

Sir Richard Woolley is also remembered for his early thoughts on space flight. He didn't believe that sending rockets into space would be practical. He shared this idea with the Astronomer Royal before him, Sir Harold Spencer Jones.

In 1936, he reviewed a book about rockets. He wrote that sending rockets into space had "difficulties of so fundamental a nature." He thought it was "essentially impracticable," meaning it couldn't really be done.

When he became Astronomer Royal in 1956, he repeated his view. He famously said that "space travel is utter bilge." He told Time magazine that he didn't think anyone would spend enough money on it. He also wondered what good it would do. He believed that investing in better telescopes would teach us more about the universe.

It's interesting to note that Woolley said this just one year before Sputnik 1 was launched. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite sent into space. His comments were also five years before the Apollo Program began. This program eventually led to humans landing on the Moon.

Some people later said that Woolley's famous quote was slightly changed by newspapers. According to J.A. Terry and John Rudge, he actually said: "All this talk about space travel is utter bilge, really." They said he then added that "It would cost as much as a major war just to put a man on the moon." Terry and Rudge believed that newspapers left out the first part of his quote. They thought this was because Woolley was criticizing the exaggerated stories about space travel in the newspapers at the time.