Brian Warner

Brian Warner (25 May 1939 – 5 May 2023) was a British South African optical astronomer who was Emeritus Distinguished Professor of natural philosophy at the University of Cape Town. Warner's research included cataclysmic variable stars, pulsars, degenerate stars and binary stars. He also researched and published on the history of astronomy in South Africa.

Biography

Early life and education Warner was born 25 May 1939 in Crawley Down, Sussex, England. His father was a gardener on a country estate and his mother was a charwoman. He didn't pass his eleven-plus exam, failing in mathematics, but was nonetheless admitted to the East Grinstead County Grammar School on the recommendation of his teacher.

Warner went to University College London (UCL) in 1958 to study undergraduate astronomy. Warner remained at UCL for postgraduate studies, completing a PhD in astronomical spectroscopy in 1964 titled Abundances in Late type Stars. His doctoral supervisor was Roy Henry Garstang. For his thesis research he travelled to the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria, South Africa, to use the observatory's telescope. Warner was head of the astronomy department until 1999, before formally retiring in 2004 though he continued to undertake research.

Warner died 5 May 2023 aged 83.

Awards and honours

McIntyre Award (1983) of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa The John F.W. Herschel Medal (1988) of the Royal Society of South Africa South Africa Medal (1989) of the Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science Gill Medal (1992) of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa Honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (1995) Science-for-Society Gold Medal (2004) of the Academy of Science of South Africa Honorary fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (2008) Honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town (2009) Honorary fellow of University College London (2009) Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (2009)

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Edited