Dr Chris Crowe is a professional astronomer, teacher and lecturer. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Head of Astronomy at the world-renowned Harrow School in London, UK. He runs the Rayleigh Observatory, teaches and lectures astronomy, and runs regular open evenings to share the heavens with the community. He was previously part of a research team and taught as a cosmologist at the University of Cambridge while part of the ESA Planck team studying the relic radiation from the big bang. He had the privilege of working in the same department as the late Stephen Hawking while studying for his PhD.
Over the last ten years he has dedicated himself to educating students and the public about astronomy. He has lectured as part of the partnership between cruise lines and the RAS, run science festivals, delivered public outreach lectures and stargazing parties all over the world. He was asked to give a TEDx talk last year that now has over 500,000 views on YouTube. He joined George Takei in Las Vegas to fly in zero gravity and conduct astronaut training, which inspired him to work with a group of students to design and build a range of research experiments to conduct on-board the Zero-G missions. He recently designed and built a new state-of-the-art observatory in the Caribbean – the largest optical observatory in central America. This observatory forms the heart of the Caribbean Sky Education Programme he created, in order to provide educational tools to schools and colleges in the West Indies and share with them the joys of exploring space. He also runs projects at The Rayleigh Observatory in London so that his students can conduct research without needing to travel further afield. This type of hands-on education is part of his role as a director at the Astronome company – which designs world-leading observatories around the world for private clients and institutions. Last year he was invited to Las Vegas to discuss the design of the first ever rooftop/garden observatory on the famous strip.
In addition to lecturing, he has designed shows for the largest planetarium on any ship, the Queen Mary 2, and was filmed for part of a US MSNBC TV series focused on astronavigation using the stars with a beautiful stellar backdrop, after which Cunard used video shots of his lectures as part of their advertising campaign. He has a library of over 25 astronomical lectures to suit locations around the world and all age groups, loves to host narrated stargazing parties on the top deck at night, and tailors his talks to focus on the sky above a particular region, such as “Exploring The Caribbean Night Sky” or “Wonders of the Southern Sky: From Galaxies to Black Holes”.
On request he can also provide a special virtual reality headset setup for virtual stargazing parties which can be conducted in any location at any time with groups of guests. He loves to host sessions observing features on the surface of the Sun through a special solar telescope, and is always excited to share inspiring stories of the cosmos.
Almost 10 years' worth of voyages on Cunard QM2 as Royal Astronomical Society Fellow Guest Lecturer, recently appointed Resident Astronomer for Viking for Aug 2020