Bolton, John Gatenby

Abstract

Bolton, John Gatenby (b. Sheffield, England, 25 June 1922; d. Buderim, Australia, 6 July 1993), radio astronomy, 'radio stars', Caltech, Owens Valley Radio Observatory, Parkes, radio source identifications; quasars.

Bolton was one of the early founders of radio astronomy (Kellermann, 1996; Wild and Radhakrishnan, 1996). He was responsible for the discovery and identification of many of the earliest 'radio stars', carried out important early surveys of discrete sources, established the radio astronomy program at Caltech and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, and was the first Director of the Parkes Radio Telescope. Later in his career, he developed new techniques which led to the location and identification of more than one thousand quasars. For his pioneering research in radio astronomy Bolton received many honors, including the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Edgeworth David Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales, the Encyclopedia Britannica Gold Medal and Prize for Science, the American Astronomical Society's Russell Lectureship and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a C.B.E., a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.