Desmond George King-HeleFRS (3 November 1927 – 25 December 2019)[1] was a Britishphysicist,poet and author who crossed the divide between the arts and science to write extensively about the life ofErasmus Darwin, whom he linked with the romantic poetsShelley,Wordsworth, andColeridge. In 1957, together withDoreen Gilmour, and as part of the Guided Weapons department ofRoyal Aircraft Establishment, he wrote a report proposing the use of theBlue Streak missile andBlack Knight as a satellite launcher. See also:Blue Streak Satellite Launch Vehicle.
He was born in Seaford, Sussex, the son of Sidney G. and Bessie (née Sayer) King-Hele and was educated atEpsom College[1] andTrinity College, Cambridge.[2]
He joined theRoyal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough in 1948 and stayed there until 1988, researching thegravity of Earth and itsupper atmosphere bysatellite orbit determination. He was awarded theEddington Medal of theRoyal Astronomical Society in 1971 for his work on thegeophysical application of the study of theorbits ofartificial satellites. He was elected afellow of the Royal Society in March 1966[3] and gave theBakerian lecture in 1974 and theWilkins Lecture in 1997.[4] 2019 he was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Letters by theUniversity of Derby.[5]
He is considered "one of the pioneers ofspace geodesy".[6]Based onsatellite geodesy, King-Hele refined the estimate forEarth's pear shape, finding a 45 m difference between north and south polar radii.[7][8]
He married Marie Newman in 1954; they had two daughters.[9]
He won theChree medal and prize in 1971.
In 1973, he correctly predicted thatSkylab would re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 1979.
King-Hele died on 25 December 2019.[10]
He is also the author of two books of poetry, and of various articles published in journals, such as "Shelley and Science",Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Jul., 1992), pp. 253-265.
recommended me for a special scholarship to Epsom College, the large public school on the eastern outskirts of Epsom, and the college headmaster had agreed this.
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