Paul Murdin, OBE, is the author of The Secret Lives of Planets. He has worked as an astronomer in the UK, the USA, Australia and Spain, and discovered the first stellar black hole, Cygnus X1. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, former president of the European Astronomical Society and Senior Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. In 2012 Asteroid 128562 was named ‘Murdin’ by the IAU in honour of his contributions to the field.
