Martin Ryle (1918-1984) was a British astrophysicist who developed the aperture synthesis technique of interferometry and constructed large radio telescopes, using them to discover and catalogue numerous radio sources. He guided the Cambridge radio astronomy group in the production of several important radio source catalogues. For example, the Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources (3C) 1959 helped lead to the discovery of the first quasi-stellar object (quasar). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1952, was knighted in 1966, and succeeded Sir Richard Woolley as Astronomer Royal (1972–82). Sir Martin was elected an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of canada on 1973-01-27. Ryle and Antony Hewish shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974, the first Nobel prize awarded in recognition of astronomical research. The asteroid (12136) Martinryle is dedicated to him.