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Kenneth Alwyne Pounds,CBE,FRS (born 17 November 1934) isEmeritus Professor ofphysics at theUniversity of Leicester.
He was born inBradford,Yorkshire, where he went to Salt Grammar School (nowTitus Salt School inBaildon).[citation needed] He then attendedUniversity College London where he gained his BSc and in 1961 a PhD under the supervision ofHarrie Massey andRobert Lewis Fullarton Boyd.
He then moved to the University of Leicester as Assistant Lecturer in 1960, to work in the Department of Physics (now theSchool of Physics and Astronomy). He became Deputy Director of Space Research in 1967, and was one of the pioneers of usingrockets andsatellites for research in the UK. He became first Director of theX-ray Astronomy group in 1974. His research is in the area ofactive galaxies, and one of his many discoveries is thatblack holes are common in theuniverse.
Ken Pounds became Professor of Space Physics in 1973. He was appointed Head of theDepartment of Physics in 1986, and the following year took the decision to merge with theAstronomy department to create the present Department of Physics and Astronomy.
He was a member of theScience and Engineering Research Council, 1980–1984; President of theRoyal Astronomical Society, 1990–1992; and was seconded as the first Chief Executive of the newly formedParticle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, 1994–1998, following the restructuring of the Research Councils. He then returned to Leicester as Head of Department until his retirement in 2002. He remains active in the Department as a researchfellow.
Pounds was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1981, and appointed a CBE in 1984. He holds fivehonorary doctorates, including the rare distinction of an honorary degree from his own institution, the University of Leicester, in 2005. The asteroid4281 Pounds, discovered byEdward Bowell in 1985, was named in his honour. The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 4 October 1990 (M.P.C. 17030).[1] In 2010, theNational Portrait Gallery, London purchased a portrait of Pounds by the photographer Max Alexander for its permanent collection.[2]
His 42 year old wife Margaret was murdered by a 25 year old intruder on Monday 10 May 1976, in Ribble Avenue in Oadby.[3][4]
Chef Peter Dunn, of Westleigh Road, Leicester, was sentenced to life on Friday 29 October 1976 at Northampton Court.[5][6] Dunn had lied his way throughout the trial.[7]
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