Australian celebrity astronomer and BBC star Greg Quicke died earlier this week aged 62 after being diagnosed with cancer last year.
The Western Australian-native was born in 1961 and as a TV presenter hosted a series of astronomy specials on the BBC and ABC called Stargazing Live alongside Professor Brian Cox.
He was affectionately known as ‘Space Gandalf’ thanks to his strong resemblance to the Lord of the Rings character played by Sir Ian McKellen.
Quicke’s family said in a statement he helped viewers better understand the cosmos.
‘He brought the universe to us all and translated it into a language we all understood,’ they said.
‘He was watched by millions of people around the globe and carried out his life work with inspirational spirit and freedom.’
English TV presenter Bill Bailey interviewed him as part of his Wild West Australia series where Quicke explained what he loved most about his work.
‘It brings me a lot of joy. Everyone thinks it’s all about stars but it’s not… it’s about people,’ Quicke told him.
He also hosted a ten-part miniseries for the ABC called A Stargazers Guide to the Cosmos, and wrote several books on the subject.
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In addition to his TV work, he was also a popular tour guide and over the years had taken more than 100,000 people on a guided journey to see WA’s breathtaking star constellations.
Professor Brian Cox paid a fitting tribute to Quicke on social media: ‘I love what he wrote on seeing the solar eclipse in 2023. “My body spent, my heart full, I crash into a deep eclipse fuelled communion with the other worlds.”
‘I hope that’s where he is now,’ Cox concluded.
Quicke is survived by a daughter, his parents and sister.