Rev. Dr. George V. Coyne

George Coyne obtained his PhD in Astronomy from Georgetown University (Washington, DC) in 1962 and the Licentiate in Theology from Woodstock College (Maryland) in 1966. In addition, he has received PhD degrees honoris causa from St. Peter's University (New Jersey), Loyola University (Chicago), The University of Padua (Italy), the Jagellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and Marquette University (Milwaukee).

Since 1966 Dr. Coyne has been associated with astronomy programs at the University of Arizona (Tucson) and he is currently an adjunct professor there. He was appointed in 1978 by Pope John Paul I as Director of the Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana), which has its headquarters at Castel Gandolfo (Rome, Italy) and a research branch at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He retired as director in 2006. Rev. Dr. Coyne has served on the Guber Foundation Board of Trustees since 2005.