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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Mike Cruise say to the ship? You're cruising for a bruising.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike Cruise
OBE FRAS
Cruise in 2019
Born
Adrian Michael Cruise

(1947-05-12)12 May 1947
Wales
Died7 February 2026(2026-02-07) (aged 78)
EducationUniversity College London (BSc, PhD)[1]
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsX-ray astronomy, spacecraft instrumentation, gravitational-wave detectors
WorkplacesUniversity of Birmingham; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; Mullard Space Science Laboratory

Adrian Michael Cruise OBE FRAS (12 May 1947 – 7 February 2026) was a British astronomer and astrophysicist. Initially an X-ray astronomer, he also worked on instrumentation for space missions at other wavelengths. In his later career, he worked on the design and operation of gravitational wave detectors.[1][4]

Cruise held positions at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and University of Birmingham. He was President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2018 to 2020.[1][4] In 2024, he received an OBE for services to space science.[2]

Background

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Cruise was born in South Wales on 12 May 1947.[5][6] Raised in Southern England, he showed an early interest in electronics and radio astronomy, attempting to build a radio telescope at home at age 16.[5]

Cruise obtained his BSc from University College London (UCL).[1] His PhD was at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), where he worked on instrumentation for X-ray astronomy under the supervision of Peter Willmore.[1][7] His PhD thesis analysed X-ray observations collected during three Skylark launches (a sounding rocket); the doctorate was awarded in 1973.[7]

Cruise died on 7 February 2026, at the age of 78, following a long illness.[5][8]

Career

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Cruise remained at MSSL as a staff researcher; from 1985–1986 he briefly served as its Deputy Director.[4][1] He then moved to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), initially as the head of its Astrophysics Group and later as its Associate Director for Space.[1] At RAL, Cruise directed British contributions to the Cluster and JET-X missions.[5]

In 1995, he was appointed professor at the University of Birmingham, where he later spent five years as Head of School and then five years as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer.[4][1] He formally retired from Birmingham in 2012 but remained an honorary professor (emeritus status).[4]

Cruise was heavily involved in the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), serving as a council member, secretary, treasurer, vice president and was President of the RAS from 2018–2020.[1][4] From 2003–2008, he was on the board of directors for the Thinktank, Birmingham science museum.[9]

In 2011, as part of a collaboration with the Office of Astronomy for Development, Cruise assisted in the production of the first school astronomy textbook in the Pashto language, to support education in Afghanistan.[10]

Research

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Cruise developed spacecraft instrumentation, initially for X-ray astronomy, contributing to X-ray space telescopes including Ariel V, Ariel VI, ROSAT, XMM-Newton and Spektr-RG.[4] He later worked on instruments for space telescopes at other wavelengths, particularly those of the European Space Agency (ESA), including Hipparcos, SOHO and STEREO.[4] In 2012, Cruise co-authored the spacecraft instrumentation textbook Principles of Space Instrument Design.[5]

In his later career, Cruise became involved in gravitational wave research, particularly gravitational wave detectors that could operate at high frequency.[4] He proposed a new type of detector that would be sensitive to gravitational waves at MHz frequencies,[11][12] and built several prototypes of such instruments in his laboratory at Birmingham.[4][13] Cruise was part of the team that set the first experimental upper limits on gravitational waves at THz frequencies.[14]

He was a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration, and obtained grant funding for the UK's contribution to the Advanced LIGO instrument.[15] His work led to UK involvement in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission[1] and he helped design and build instruments on its precursor LISA Pathfinder.[4][16]

Honours and recognition

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Throughout his career, Cruise received awards from NASA, the ESA, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Royal Aeronautical Society.[5]

In 2016, Cruise was one of approximately 1000 authors listed on the paper announcing the first observation of gravitational waves.[17] All members of that team were jointly awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the Gruber Prize in Cosmology later that year.[1]

Cruise was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to space sciences.[2][3]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Tonkin, Sam (11 February 2026). "Professor Mike Cruise, OBE, 1947–2026". Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N12.
  3. 1 2 "Awards for New Year 2024" (PDF). GOV.UK. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 December 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "University of Birmingham staff profile: Adrian (Mike) Cruise". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zarnecki, John (1 August 2026). "Mike Cruise OBE". Astronomy & Geophysics. 67 (4). Oxford Academic: 4.11. doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atag032. ISSN 1366-8781. Retrieved 7 September 2026. (Subscription or UK public library membership required)
  6. ↑ "Cruise, Prof. Adrian Michael, (Mike), (born 12 May 1947), Professor of Astrophysics and Space Research, University of Birmingham, 1995–2012, now Emeritus; President, Royal Astronomical Society, 2018–20". Who's Who & Who Was Who 2026. Who's Who. A & C Black. 1 December 2024 [1 December 2019]. Retrieved 13 February 2026 – via Oxford University Press. (Subscription or UK public library membership required)
  7. 1 2 Cruise, A.M. (1973). Rocket studies of cosmic X-ray sources (PhD thesis). Bibcode:1973PhDT.......138C. Archived from the original on 2 February 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  8. ↑ "Tribute to Professor Mike Cruise". Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics. 12 February 2026. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  9. ↑ "Adrian Michael CRUISE personal appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  10. ↑ "MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING 14 OCTOBER 2011 AT 1100 IN THE COUNCIL ROOM" (PDF). Royal Astronomical Society. 14 October 2011. p. 1. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  11. ↑ Cruise, A. M. (7 July 2000). "An electromagnetic detector for very-high-frequency gravitational waves". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 17 (13): 2525–2530. Bibcode:2000CQGra..17.2525C. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/17/13/305.
  12. ↑ Cruise, A. M.; Ingley, R. M. J. (21 May 2005). "A correlation detector for very high frequency gravitational waves". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 22 (10): S479–S481. Bibcode:2005CQGra..22S.479C. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/22/10/046.
  13. ↑ Cruise, A. M.; Ingley, R. M. J. (21 November 2006). "A prototype gravitational wave detector for 100 MHz". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 23 (22): 6185–6193. Bibcode:2006CQGra..23.6185C. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/23/22/007.
  14. ↑ Ejlli, A.; Ejlli, D.; Cruise, A. M.; Pisano, G.; Grote, H. (December 2019). "Upper limits on the amplitude of ultra-high-frequency gravitational waves from graviton to photon conversion". The European Physical Journal C. 79 (12) 1032. arXiv:1908.00232. Bibcode:2019EPJC...79.1032E. doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7542-5.
  15. ↑ "Mike Cruise". The Conversation. 29 January 2016.
  16. ↑ Robertson, D. I.; Fitzsimons, E. D.; Killow, C. J.; Perreur-Lloyd, M.; Ward, H.; Bryant, J.; Cruise, A. M.; Dixon, G.; Hoyland, D.; Smith, D.; Bogenstahl, J. (21 April 2013). "Construction and testing of the optical bench for LISA Pathfinder". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 30 (8) 085006. Bibcode:2013CQGra..30h5006R. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/30/8/085006. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0015-16FE-2.
  17. ↑ Abbott, Benjamin P.; et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration) (2016). "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger". Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 (6) 061102. arXiv:1602.03837. Bibcode:2016PhRvL.116f1102A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102. PMID 26918975. S2CID 124959784.
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