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Michele Dougherty Appointed First Woman Astronomer Royal

An executive chair of the STFC who leads ESA’s JUICE magnetometer mission now takes on the honorary royal science advisory position

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Michele Dougherty on the terrace at Imperial College London, where she has worked since 1991

Overview

  • Professor Michele Dougherty was formally approved by the King on July 29, 2025, succeeding Lord Martin Rees after his 30-year tenure as Astronomer Royal.
  • The Astronomer Royal role was founded in 1675 to aid longitude calculations at sea and has been an honorary royal household title since 1972.
  • She rose to prominence in 2005 when her analysis of Cassini data revealed water vapour plumes on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, highlighting its potential habitability.
  • As principal investigator for the magnetometer aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, she is leading the search for a subsurface ocean on Ganymede.
  • Dougherty continues to shape UK research as executive chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, president-elect of the Institute of Physics and professor of space physics at Imperial College London.