Biographical entry Candy, Michael Philip (1928 - 1994)

Summary

Michael Philip Candy joined the Perth Observatory in 1969 and was Director 1984-93. Much of his work has been on comets and minor planets. One of his career highlights was calculating positions for Halley's comet in 1986, with 10% of all Earth-based positions of the comet being made from Perth under his supervision.

Details

Born Bath, England, 23 December 1928. Died Perth, 2 November 1994. Educated London University (BSc 1963) and University of Sussex (MSc 1965). Majesty's Almanac Office, England 1947-ca 1960, Royal Greenwich Observatory ca 1961-69, astronomer, Perth Observatory 1969-84, government astronomer, Perth Observatory 1984-93. First astronomer to discover a comet and calculate its orbit (Comet Candy 1960), Merlin Medal, British Astronomical Association 1975, asteroid 3015 Candy named after him ca 1984. Director, comet section, British Astronomical Association 1959-69.

Archival resources

Perth Observatory

• Michael Philip Candy - Records, 1969 - 1990; Perth Observatory. Details

Published resources

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Candy, M P', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-591370. Details

See also

• Davies, Susan, 'R. v.d. R. Wooley in Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 6, no. 1, 1984, pp. 59-69. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9840610059.htm. Details