Talk:Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow

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I asked him permission to put this image:

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IoA/staff/mjr/rees_bw.jpg —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 200.69.103.2 (talk • contribs) 08:05, 3 December 2004 (UTC)

That image is used all over the place, usually without attribution. One article on the BBC credits Cambridge University. There are maybe three or four commonly used portraits of him. I bet most of the websites using his picture never had permission, but we can't do that on Wikipedia. The book cover was the best I could find without needing permission. The alternative were some very poor shots from a 1995 debate that are on the NASA site. JRawle (Talk) 10:08, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Prof. Rees has given his permission for the current photo to be used, so I've tagged it as a promotional photo. It's much better than using a book cover! JRawle (Talk) 16:01, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PRS v FRS

What is the correct honour whilst Martin Rees is President of the Royal Scoiety? I believe it is P(resident)RS but saw this had been changed before and changed back Rogwan 15:02, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe the argument hinges on whether PRS is recognised as a postnominal anywhere outside the RS. They use it on his bio page there [1]... but then they also use "Kt" for knight which is not formally correct. The article on previous president Lord Adrian still has "PRS" but I am certain they don't keep it after the end of their term. It is unusual to have postnominal letters for a specific office, particularly one that is only held for a few years. You could e-mail someone at the RS to ask. JRawle (Talk) 16:27, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

"Presidents of some societies have special letters to signify their appointment. The President of the Royal Society has PRS after his name, for instance, but these letters are used only within the particular society." (Debrett's Correct Form under "Fellowship of Learned Societies") Proteus (Talk) 16:53, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Title

Surely the title should be Martin, Lord Rees of Ludlow, not Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow? "Lord Rees of Ludlow" is his title according to [2], and Baron isn't used as a title in England. -- Robminchin 04:04, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) - we put the Baron in because Lord could mean any one of a Marquess, an Earl, a Viscount or a Baron, or in many cases a courtesy title for their children. -- ALoan (Talk) 09:37, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

In English usage, Lord couldn't mean anything other than Baron in this context though (Duke, Marquess, Earl and Viscount all use the rank in their written title, see e.g. [3]), and Marquess, Earl, Viscount or Baron could all just as easily be courtesy titles (e.g. the Earl of Arundel, the eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk). To quote Burke's Peerage, "to refer in the third person to any baron in the peerage (2) of England, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland or the United Kingdom as 'Baron Blank' rather than 'Lord Blank' is a solecism" [4] - but I suppose if Wikipedia has set a convention it should be followed, even if it's not good english. -- Robminchin 05:21, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

We're not referring to him as "Baron Rees of Ludlow", but as "Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow" which (apart from the use of his surname, which is a necessary convention to avoid confusion where titles and surnames are not the same) is legally what he is. Proteus (Talk) 10:36, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is he an atheist?

He describes himself as a "practising, but non-believing Christian" Interview with Rees, Guardian, 24 April 2003. That seems to imply that he doesn't believe in God. --143.52.5.181 11:32, 23 March 2007 (UTC)