Born in England in 1923, Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore has been England's pre-eminent popularizer of astronomy for the past half century, and he continues to be an ambassador for astronomy. He was elected a member of the British Astronomical Association while he was still a school-boy, and became its president 50 years later. During World War II, he served with the Royal Air Force. He established his private observatory at Selsey, in Sussex, U.K., where he specializes in observations of the Moon and planets. In 1957, he was invited by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to present a new television series "The Sky at Night," and it has become the longest-running program of its kind. In 1967, Patrick Moore was awarded the Order of the British Empire. In 2001, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his services to astronomy.

2012-12-09 -- A statement by his friends and staff said: "After a short spell in hospital last week, it was determined that no further treatment would benefit him, and it was his wish to spend his last days in his own home, Farthings, where he today passed on, in the company of close friends and carers and his cat Ptolemy.