| | studied Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1968 | Research Fellow, Caltech |
| 1967-1969 | Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge |
| 1967-1972 | Staff member, Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Cambridge |
| 1969-1992 | Senior Research Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1969-1970 | Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey |
| 1971 | Visiting Associate Professor, Caltech |
| 1972 | , 1988-89 Visiting Professor, Harvard University |
| 1972-1973 | Professor, Sussex University |
| 1976-1977 | Gresham Professor of Astronomy |
| 1982 | , 1996-1997 Visiting Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| 1984 | Joint Coordinator of programme on galaxy formation, etc. at Institute of Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara |
| 1984-1988 | Regents Visiting Fellow of Smithsonian Institution |
| 1973-1991 | Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, Cambridge University |
| 1977-1982 | , 1987-91 Director, Institute of Astronomy |
| 1973-1991 | Professorial Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1992-2003 | Royal Society Professor at Cambridge University |
| Official Fellow King's College, Cambridge |
| 1995 | JSPS visitor, Kyoto University |
| 2002-2009 | Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, Cambridge |
| 2004-2012 | Master of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| since 1995 | Astronomer Royal |
| since 2001 | Honorary Professor, Imperial College, London and Leicester University |
| since 2012 | Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge |
