South African-born astrophysicist Hilton Ratcliffe has garnered respect amongst the global scientific community for his classical approach to space science: His belief system is based upon observation rather than esoteric theory, a reversal of the standard approach to cosmology. His first book, The Virtue of Heresy - Confessions of a Dissident Astronomer, is an international hit on its third edition. A measure of the esteem in which he is held is the invitation he received from iconic British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, to collaborate on a second book, The Static Universe. Ratcliffe is a Durban-based physicist, mathematician, and astronomer. He is a member of both the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA) and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He opposes the stranglehold that Big Bang theory has on astronomical research and funding, and to this end became a founding member of the Alternative Cosmology Group (an association of some 700 leading scientists from all corners of the globe), which conducted its inaugural international conference in Portugal in 2005. 

He was a member of the Conference Organising Committee for the Second Crisis in Cosmology Conference (CCC2) held in Port Angeles, Washington, in 2008, where he was also an invited speaker. Ratcliffe has been frequently interviewed in the press, on television and on radio, and has also authored a number of papers for scientific journals. Ratcliffe writes a monthly astrophysical column for Ndaba, newsletter of the Durban Centre of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, and edits the online newsletter of the Alternative Cosmology Group (ACG). 

He is best known in formal science as co-discoverer, together with eminent nuclear chemist Oliver Manuel and solar physicist Michael Mozina, of the CNO nuclear fusion cycle on the surface of the Sun, some 65 years after it was first predicted. In his capacity as a Fellow of the (British) Institute of Physics, he involves himself in addressing the decline in student interest in physical sciences at both high school and university level, and particularly likes to encourage the reading of books.