Emeritus Professor Douglas Heggie awarded 2025 RAS Eddington Medal

Professor Heggie, a member of our School since 1975, is honoured for his outstanding contributions to the field of dynamical astronomy over the past four decades. One of the originators of the current paradigm of the dynamical evolution of collisional stellar systems, he has conducted pioneering theoretical research on the topic of the classical gravitational N-body problem, with a particular focus on the three-body problem, and related applications to the dynamics of globular star clusters and high-performance computing.

The article in which he presented the theory of binary evolution in stellar dynamics — often referred to as 'Heggie's law' — has found a spectrum of applications in many astrophysical domains. Professor Heggie also set the foundational knowledge regarding the formation and evolution of tidal streams from small galactic satellites and pioneered investigations into the existence of planetary systems in dense stellar environments. These areas of study are instrumental in understanding the nature of dark matter and the habitability of exoplanets.

Commenting on his award success, Professor Heggie told the RAS, "Being deep into retirement, it never occurred to me that something like this could happen. I'm surprised, delighted and extremely grateful to all concerned."