| R. Edward Nather | |
| Birth Name: | Roy Edward Nather |
| Birth Date: | 23 September 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Helena, Montana, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Kelley Edwards (pen name) |
| Fields: | Astronomy |
| Workplaces: | University of Texas at Austin |
| Thesis Title: | High Speed Photoelectric Photometry |
| Thesis Year: | 1972 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Brian Warner |
| Awards: | Muhlmann Prize (2007) |
| Spouse: | Tommie-Lou Rush (1947-1957) Virginia Wood Palm (1957-1961) Marilane Levine Nather (1962-2014) |
| Children: | 5 |
Roy Edward Nather (September, 23 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American astronomer, who at the time of his death, was professor emeritus in Astronomy at University of Texas at Austin. He pioneered the fields of asteroseismology of white dwarfs, and observational studies of interacting binary collapsed stars.[1]
He served as the director of the Whole Earth Telescope for the first decade of its existence,[2] and achieved internet fame by posting the Story of Mel, a Real Programmer, on Usenet.[3]