David Malin
David Malin (born 28 March 1941) is a British-Australian astronomer and photographer.
Career
Malin was born in 1941 and raised in the north of England, Heywood, Greater Manchester. He was trained as a chemist and originally worked as a microscopist. In 1975 he moved to Sydney to take up a job with the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO).
Whilst working at the AAO, Malin developed several photographic processing techniques to maximise the ability to extract faint and low contrast detail from the non-linear response and high densities of photographic plates.
These techniques were initially devised to enhance the scientific return from photography, but Malin is now best known for the series of three-colour wide field images of deep space objects which have been widely published as posters and in books around the world. Most professional astronomical photographs are monochromatic, if colour pictures are required, three images are needed. During his career at the AAO, Malin made about 150 three-colour images of deep sky objects mostly using the 4 m Anglo-Australian Telescope and plates from the 1.2m (47 in) UK Schmidt Telescope.