Malcolm Longair has held many highly respected positions within the fields of physics and astronomy. This includes his appointment as ninth Astronomer Royal of Scotland in 1980, as well as Regius Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, and Director of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. He served as Head of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge from 1997 to 2005.

He is currently Director of Development at the Cavendish Laboratory. He has served on and chaired many international committees, boards and panels, working with both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). He has also chaired numerous committees for specific science projects, including the Planck and Euclid mission of ESA. He was inaugural Chair of the High Level Science Policy Committee of ESA for six years.

Malcolm’s main research interests are in high energy astrophysics and astrophysical cosmology. His recent books include the third edition of High Energy Astrophysics (1981) and Quantum Concepts in Physics (2013). A current major project is a scientific history of the Cavendish Laboratory.