Frank Bateson. Photo / Alan Gibson
Frank Bateson, OBE, astronomer. Died aged 97.
Frank Bateson, who has died in Tauranga, was an internationally known astronomer and star expert.
He became passionately interested in the heavens while still a youth, founding the variable star section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand at
the age of 18, and continued his studies into old age.
Dr Bateson was the astronomer in charge of the Mt John Observatory in South Canterbury in the 1960s. He toured New Zealand looking for a site for a major astronomical observatory. It led to the University of Pennsylvania selecting his suggestion of Mt John in the Mackenzie Country and his becoming astronomer in charge.
The observatory was established there because of the clear skies and record clear-sky hours. But there was another side to it and in 1969, Dr Bateson retired because of ill health, defeated by years of gale force winds and freezing temperatures.
"I feel that 10 years in the mountains in all types of weather and under difficult and trying conditions is about as much as one man can accomplish." he said before heading for the kinder climes of Tauranga with his wife, where he survived for another 38 years.
Dr Bateson was a New Zealand delegate at many international conferences and often lectured overseas on variable stars. He led an international expedition to the South Pacific in 1965 to observe the total solar eclipse of that year.
Among many international and local honours he was made an OBE in 1970 for his services to New Zealand and international astronomy. He was only 24 when he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1933.
Minor planet 2434, first discovered from Mt John, was named Bateson in 1981 to honour his work.
Frank Maine Bateson, was born in Wellington on October 31, 1909.
After home naval service in World War II he worked as a trading company executive in Rarotonga from 1946 until 1960 when he returned to New Zealand. In 1957 he was the first European elected to the Cook Islands Legislative Assembly.
Dr Bateson wrote several books on astronomy and more than 600 papers for scientific journals worldwide on variable stars.
He is survived by one daughter.
- NZPA and staff reporter
