Leon Mestel
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Leon Mestel (born 5 August 1927) is a British astronomer who has won both the Eddington Medal (1993) and Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2002).
He was born in Melbourne, Australia, and came to England at the age of three, where he lived in Forest Gate, East London. He was the son of Rabbi Solomon Mestel and Rachel, née Brodetsky, sister of Selig Brodetsky. He was educated at West Ham Secondary School, London and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He was ICI Research Fellow, Department of Mathematics, University of Leeds, 1951-4 and Commonwealth Fund Fellow at Princeton University Observatory, 1954-5.
Returning to England, he was a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, 1955-1966, and fellow of St John's College, 1957-1966, including a period as visiting member of the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton in 1961-2. Before taking up his appointment as professor of applied mathematics at the University of Manchester, he was JFK fellow at the Weizmann Institute, Israel, 1966-7. He became professor of astronomy at the University of Sussex in 1973 and retired in 1992, becoming Emeritus Professor.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1977.
His research interests are in the area of astrophysics, including: stellar structure, stellar evolution, star formation, cosmical magnetism and pulsar electrodynamics.
His son, Jonathan Mestel, is a noted mathematician and an internationally renowned chess player.
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