# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/donald-lynden-bell
# Generated: 2026-08-15T03:39:13.762Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/donald-lynden-bell"
name: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
slug: "donald-lynden-bell"
description: "Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS was a British theoretical astrophysicist. He was the first to determine that galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centres, and that such black holes power quasars. Lynden-Bell was President of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985–1987) and received numerous awards for his work, including the inaugural Kavli Prize for Astrophysics. He worked at the University of Cambridge for his entire career, where he was the first director of its Institute of Astronomy."
tagline: "English astrophysicist (1935-2018)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Donald_Lynden-Bell.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1935-04-05"
deathDate: "2018-02-06"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           46.9
  momentum:             0
  historical:           15.08841066666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF_%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%84"
    title: "دونالد لیندن-بل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "دونالد لیندن-بل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%89%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%9D%E3%83%99%E3%83%AB"
    title: "ドナルド・リンデン＝ベル"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Lynden-Bell"
    title: "Donald Lynden-Bell"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD-%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%2C_%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4"
    title: "Линден-Белл, Дональд"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "டொனால்டு இலிண்டன்-பெல்"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4_%D0%9B%D1%96%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD-%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB"
    title: "Дональд Лінден-Белл"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "唐納德·林登貝爾"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1240090"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump