george v. coyne, s.j. (january 19, 1933 – february 11, 2020) was an american jesuit priest and astronomer. he was director of the vatican observatory from 1978 to 2006 and head of the observatory's research group which is based at the university of arizona in tucson, arizona. he was mcdevitt chair of religious philosophy at le moyne college in syracuse, new york from 2012 until his death.