Michele Dougherty
Michele Dougherty | |
|---|---|
Dougherty in April 2015 | |
| 16th Astronomer Royal | |
| Assumed office 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Martin Rees |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michele Karen Dougherty 1962 |
| Website | profiles |
| Scientific career | |
| Alma mater | University of Natal |
| Known for | Magnetometer instrumentation for the Cassini-Huygens mission |
| Awards | Hughes Medal (2008) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2017) |
| Fields | Geophysics Space physics |
| Institutions | Imperial College London |
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Michele Karen Dougherty CBE FRS FRAS (born 1962) is a British scientist. She is professor of space physics at Imperial College London and the sixteenth Astronomer Royal. She is leading uncrewed exploratory missions to Saturn and Jupiter, and is principal investigator for J-MAG – a magnetometer aboard the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.
She was appointed to Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council in September 2024, and was appointed Astronomer Royal in July 2025, making her the first woman in that office. She was elected to serve as President of the Institute of Physics from October 2025 but stepped down in January 2026 citing concerns of a conflict of interest with her role at STFC.