Robert d'Escourt Atkinson (April 11 1898 – October 28 1982) was an astronomer, physicist and inventor.

In the 1930s he was one of the pioneers of the idea that abundances of chemical elements in the universe were due to processes in the interior of stars. For this, he won the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1960.

In 1937 he became Chief Assistant at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The asteroid 1827 Atkinson is named after him.

External links

Obituaries

• QJRAS 25 (1984) 100–104
• JBAA 93 (1983) 172–173

British astronomers | 1898 births | 1982 deaths

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson | Robert Atkinson