Heather Couper
Television astronomer
HEATHER Couper, who has died at 70, was an astronomer whose regular appearances on shows such as The Sky At Night, with Sir Patrick Moore, made her something of a celebrity.
Dr Couper also presented the 1981 Yorkshire TV children’s series, Heavens Above.
Her fellow astronomer, Nigel Henbest, said she would be remembered as a “passionate communicator of science”.
Also a radio presenter, she served as a Millennium Commissioner and was the first woman president of the British Astronomical Association.
Her 2006 series on Radio 4, Britain’s Space Race, won the Sir Arthur Clarke Award, named after the science fiction writer,and in 2007, she received a CBE for services to science.
She and Dr Henbest, who was also her partner, co-authored dozens of books, including Philip’s 2019 Stargazing MonthBy-Month Guide To The Night Sky Britain And Ireland.
They even applied jointly to be the first British astronauts, Dr Couper recalled in 1993, but were quickly rejected.
They had met while at Leicester University, where
Dr Couper studied astrophysics before moving on to Oxford.
She later became Gresham professor of astronomy, and even had a minor planet named after her – asteroid 3922 Heather.
“When she enthused people about astronomy and space, she was charismatic,” Dr Henbest said.
“She got people really excited about the universe and about space – that was her love, her passion in life.”
Born in 1949 in Wallasey, Cheshire, the daughter of an airline pilot, she became fascinated with looking skyward as a child.
It was the chance of spotting her father’s plane that was the initial object of her attention, but at seven or eight, she witnessed what she described as a bright green shooting star. Her parents, initially dismissive but impressed by her interest, bought her a series of telescopes. Eventually, she wrote to Sir Patrick about her interest, adding, “PS I’m a girl.”
Her career took off, after two years as a management trainee at Top Shop, when she joined Cambridge Observatory as a research assistant.