Roger Davies (astrophysicist)

Roger Llewelyn Davies (born 13 January 1954) is a British astronomer and cosmologist, one of the so-called Seven Samurai collaboration who discovered an apparent concentration of mass in the Universe called the Great Attractor. He is the emeritus Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics, Oxford University and Student of Christ Church. His research interests centre on cosmology and how galaxies form and evolve. He has a longstanding interest in astronomical instruments and telescopes and promoted the scientific case for the UK's involvement in the 8m Gemini telescopes project that constructed telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. He has pioneered the use of a new class of astronomical spectrograph to measure the masses and ages of galaxies, as well as search for black holes in their nuclei. He was the founding director of the Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys.