Sir David Robert Bates (18 November 1916 – 5 January 1994) was a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. Born in

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Ireland, he moved to Belfast with his family in 1925, attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He enrolled with the Queen's University of Belfast in 1934. In 1939 he became a research student under Harrie Massey. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he worked at the Admiralty Mining Establishment where he developed methods of protecting ships from magnetically activated mines. Working at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

from 1945 until 1951, he then returned once more to the Queen's University, Belfast where he founded the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Although he officially retired in 1982 he continued to work in the department as an emeritus professor until his death. His contributions to science include seminal works on atmospheric physics,

molecular physics Molecular physics is the study of the physical properties of molecules and molecular dynamics. The field overlaps significantly with physical chemistry, chemical physics, and quantum chemistry. It is often considered as a sub-field of atomic, mo ...

and the chemistry of interstellar clouds. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed in 1978 for his services to science, was a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

and vice-president of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

. In 1970 he won the

Hughes Medal The Hughes Medal is a silver-gilt medal awarded by the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. T ...

. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1974. Bates was a lifelong advocate of peace and a non-sectarian Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. He was married to Barbara Morris in 1956 and they had two children. The Mathematics Building at Queens University Belfast, is named after him. Two scientific awards have been created in his honour; the David Bates Medal of the European Geophysical Society is awarded yearly for outstanding contributions to planetary and solar system science,European Geosciences Union – Awards
and the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

have the David Bates Prize, awarded in even dated years, for ''distinguished achievement in atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics''.

References

External links

Dept of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, QUB

AMOP Group at University College London

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, David 1916 births 1994 deaths Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Academics of Queen's University Belfast Academics of University College London Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Knights Bachelor People from Omagh 20th-century physicists from Northern Ireland Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Admiralty personnel of World War II Scientists from County Tyrone 20th-century mathematicians from Northern Ireland

See also

References

External links