David Thackeray

David Thackeray (19 June 1910 – 21 February 1978) was a renowned astronomer and director of the Radcliffe Observatory for 23 years. He began his astronomical career at Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics at King's College. Thackeray received his PhD in theoretical stellar spectroscopy from the Solar Physics Laboratory in 1937. Throughout his studies, he also worked at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. From 1937 to 1948, he served as Assistant Director of the Solar Physics Observatory at Cambridge Observatory. Thackeray later became the director of the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria, South Africa, a position he held until 1974 when it merged with the Royal Observatory to form the South African Astronomical Observatory. He was an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town and an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society.