Roger Tayler facts for kids

Professor Roger John Tayler was a British astronomer. He was born on October 25, 1929, and passed away on January 23, 1997. Roger Tayler made big discoveries about how stars are built and how they change over time. He also studied how the universe began, a field called cosmology. He wrote many important textbooks about space. He even worked with famous scientists like Fred Hoyle and Stephen Hawking at the University of Cambridge. They studied how helium was made when the universe was very young.

Education and Early Career

Roger Tayler went to Solihull School from 1940 to 1947. After school, he worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment. This is a place where scientists study atomic energy. Later, he moved to Cambridge University. There, he taught mathematics and was a Fellow at Corpus Christi College. In 1966, he moved to the University of Sussex. A few years later, in 1969, he became a professor of astronomy at Gresham College in London.

Contributions to Astronomy

Roger Tayler was very active in the Royal Astronomical Society. This is a group for astronomers in the UK. He was the Secretary from 1971 to 1979. Then he became the Treasurer from 1979 to 1987. Finally, he was the President of the society from 1989 to 1990.

In 1995, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists. His work was praised for many things:

• He was a pioneer in studying how stars form and change. He even discovered something called "semi-convection" in stars.
• He studied how hot, charged gases (called plasma) behave. This helped understand how stars and other space objects work.
• He worked on cosmology, which is the study of the universe. He helped figure out how much helium was made in the early universe.
• He also studied how different chemical elements are made in stars, a process called nucleosynthesis.
• Later in his career, he focused on how galaxies change their chemical makeup over time.

Roger Tayler wrote many helpful articles and textbooks. These books are used by students and scientists all over the world. He was also recognized for his great service to the public, especially through his work with the Royal Astronomical Society.

In 1990, he was given an award called the OBE. This award recognizes people who have made important contributions to their country.

See also

• Gresham Professor of Astronomy