John Gatenby Bolton
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John Gatenby Bolton (5 June 1922 – 6 July 1993) was a British-Australian
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
who was fundamental to the development of
radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...
. In particular, Bolton was integral in establishing that discrete radio sources were either galaxies or the remnants of
supernovae A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original ob ...
, rather than stars. He also played a significant role in the discovery of
quasars A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...
and the centre of the
Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
. Bolton served as the inaugural director of the
Parkes radio telescope Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...
in Australia and established the
Owens Valley Radio Observatory Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is a radio astronomy observatory located near Big Pine, California (US) in Owens Valley. It lies east of the Sierra Nevada, approximately north of Los Angeles and southeast of Bishop. It was established in 19 ...
in California. Bolton's students held directorships at most of the radio observatories in the world and one was a
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
winner. Bolton is considered a key figure in the development of astronomy in Australia.


Early life

John Gatenby Bolton was born in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, in 1922 to two high school teachers. While suffering from various sicknesses in his youth, such as severe asthma and migraines, Bolton showed an early interest and proficiency in sports, mathematics, and science. He was awarded a scholarship to the secondary King Edward VII School, but his family was required to pay full fees since his father's salary was above the threshold of the means-tested scholarship. At King Edward VII School, he was elected prefect and was awarded the school's mathematics prize in his final year. His upbringing is considered middle-class for the 1920s and 1930s United Kingdom. Bolton was awarded a place to study pure mathematics and natural philosophy at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...
in 1940, and two scholarships to cover his fees and living expenses. Due to
World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...
, his degree was reduced from three to two years. In his second year, Bolton decided to focus on physics rather than mathematics. He completed his degree in May 1942 with second-class honours. While an average result for a student that had previously finished in top third of his cohort, his mother had deteriorated and died during Bolton's examination period.


World War 2 and radar work

Bolton enlisted with the military after completing his final examinations, and chose the
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
due to his love of ships. He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
. While at officer training at
HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...
he chose to do research and development of airborne
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
. Bolton's experience of radar during World War 2 would establish key relationships and experiences that would heavily influence his future radio astronomy career. Bolton's first war posting saw him responsible for two coastal radar stations and testing the latest radar sets in night fighters. At the end of 1942, Bolton was transferred to the
Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organisation for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...
, the headquarters of Britain's wartime radar research and development. At this location he met many of what would be many of the leaders of the post-war radio astronomy efforts, including Martin Ryle. At the
Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organisation for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...
, Bolton first worked on developing a new airborne radar system operating at a wavelength of 3 cm, which included extensive testing during flights. By the time of the
D-day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
landing, Bolton had grown tired of inflight testing radar. He was offered a position as radio officer on the British light aircraft carrier . Such a position made Bolton responsible for all airborne electronics, ship-to-aircraft communications, and navigational aids. As a support ship, ''Unicorn'' had a reasonably safe war experience, with no major damage reported. Bolton's experience on ''Unicorn'' is credited with developing his hands-on expertise with electronics and the ideas that would help him later to build a sea-cliff interferometer. As World War 2 ended in 1945, shuttled cargo and personnel in the Pacific theatre back to Australia. When ''Unicorn'' returned to Britain in December 1945, Bolton decided to remain in Sydney. The choice to make Australia his new home was largely due to the positive influence the climate had on his health but also because his application to enrol in postgraduate studies at the
Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...
at Cambridge University had been rejected. His abbreviated wartime undergraduate degree was deemed inadequate training for postgraduate study by the head of the Cavendish Laboratory,
Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father William Henry Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by m ...
.


CSIR, Cygnus, and the sea-cliff interferometer

After leaving the Navy, Bolton searched for a job through his Navy connections in Australia. Through one government official associated with finding work for veterans, an appointment was made for Bolton to meet Taffy Bowen, the head of Radiophysics Laboratory of CSIR. Bolton was soon appointed to the new research officer position, with duties of `research and development in connection with the application of radar techniques'. The expertise in radar technology by the Radiophysics Laboratory was world-class at the time, largely because Britain had shared the secret of radar with its Dominions as World War 2 began and due to a relatively large Australian radio physics community that had intimate ties with the
ionospheric The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...
physicists in England. Bolton was first assigned to measure the polarisation properties of
sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...
radiations, an area of active investigation as the Sun was recently confirmed to be radio bright during World War 2. Bolton built two Yagi antennas and installed them at
Dover Heights Dover Heights is a cliffside Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dover Heights is 9 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local ...
, Sydney. However, the Sun had entered a dormant period, with no sunspots on its surface. Having learnt of the discovery of radio emission from the plane of the
Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
during his time at Cambridge University, and from observations onboard , Bolton speculated that there might be other radio bright stars like the Sun. Following his intuition, Bolton and his colleague Bruce Slee pointed the two Yagi antennas towards the horizon and used the instruments as a sea-cliff interferometer to gain greater resolution than possible by using the antennas by themselves. Such a decision led to direct conflict with Bolton's boss
Joe Pawsey Joseph Lade Pawsey (14 May 1908 – 30 November 1962) was an Australian scientist, radiophysicist and radio astronomer. Education Pawsey was born in Ararat, Victoria to a family of farmers. At the age of 14 he was awarded a government schol ...
, who reassigned Bolton to help design Yagi antennas for a potential
Solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...
expedition after finding the antennas not pointing at the Sun. However, the expedition collapsed and Bolton was again ordered to observe the Sun with the new equipment during the day, but was permitted to use the equipment at night to investigate other potential radio sources. Through discussions with Pawsey, Bolton learnt there had been conflicting reports about a radio source in the constellation of Cygnus reported by Stanley Hey. With Gordon Stanley, the pair completed a shallow survey of the southern sky with the sea-cliff interferometer. They confirmed the existence of the bright Cygnus source, later named
Cygnus A Cygnus A ( 3C 405) is a radio galaxy, one of the strongest radio sources in the sky. Discovery and Identification A concentrated radio source in Cygnus was discovered by Grote Reber in 1939. In 1946 Stanley Hey and his colleague James Phillip ...
, but at a position substantially different than that reported by Hey, and two weaker sources near the constellation
Centaurus Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...
and at the edge of Cygnus. It was also during these nighttime observing runs that Bolton largely self-taught himself astrophysics using recent publications in
The Astrophysical Journal ''The Astrophysical Journal'' (''ApJ'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astrophysics and astronomy, established in 1895 by American astronomers George Ellery Hale and James Edward Keeler. The journal discontinued its print edition and ...
. With the sea-cliff interferometer, Bolton and Stanley achieved a resolution greater than 15 times than that of Hey's observations. They could be confident that the radio emission in Cygnus came from an area less than 8'. While Hey is credited with the discovery of the first radio 'star', Bolton's result confirmed Hey's conclusion that the source had to be compact. In tandem, these results represented the beginning of the science associated with discrete radio sources. Further observations produced a refined position for
Cygnus A Cygnus A ( 3C 405) is a radio galaxy, one of the strongest radio sources in the sky. Discovery and Identification A concentrated radio source in Cygnus was discovered by Grote Reber in 1939. In 1946 Stanley Hey and his colleague James Phillip ...
but no convincing optical counterpart, such as a bright star, was found.


Radio stars

Following the Cygnus result, Bolton, Stanley, and Slee set about systematically surveying the sky with an improved sea-cliff interferometer for other discrete radio sources. By February 1948, Bolton had evidence of six new discrete radio sources, and introduced the nomenclature of referring to the radio sources in a constellation alphabetically descending in brightness. This nomenclature is still in use in radio astronomy today for some of the brightest radio sources. Bolton showed that Cygnus A was not unique - either in its existence or in its lack of association with bright optical stellar counterparts. He had identified such famous radio sources as Taurus A,
Centaurus A Centaurus A (also known as NGC 5128 or Caldwell 77) is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable ...
, and
Hercules A Hercules A is a bright astronomical radio source in the constellation Hercules corresponding to the galaxy 3C 348. Observation During a survey of bright radio sources in the mid-20th century, astronomers found a very bright radio source in the ...
. Despite the expectation that acclaim would soon follow the revelations of a new class of objects previously unknown to astronomers, the astronomy community generally responded with skepticism due to the poor positional uncertainties and because the implications did not easily fit within the orthodox astronomical knowledge of the time. Furthermore, the amount of resources Bolton was occupying at the Radiophysics Lab for his discrete source investigation was leading to direct conflict with the Solar investigation team, in particular with
Ruby Payne-Scott Ruby Violet Payne-Scott (28 May 1912 – 25 May 1981) was an Australian pioneer in radiophysics and radio astronomy, and was one of two Antipodean women pioneers in radio astronomy and radio physics at the end of the second world war, Ruby Payn ...
. In the effort to improve the impact of his results on discrete radio sources, Bolton chose to refine his source positions and eliminate any systematic uncertainties. Bolton and Stanley did this via an expedition to
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, conducting sea-cliff interferometric observations from both New Zealand and Australia. These observations corrected the positions of the sources in the 1948 paper by over 1 degree. With 10 arcminute precision and a better handle on systematic uncertainties due to ionospheric refraction, Bolton could now reasonably suggest optical counterparts. While the optical candidate of Cygnus A remained elusive, Bolton showed that Taurus A was associated with the peculiar
Crab Nebula The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. The common name comes from a drawing that somewhat resembled a crab with arm ...
, Virgo A with a galaxy that emanated a long jet-like structure ( M87), and Centaurus A with such a peculiar object that astronomers were contemporarily arguing about whether it belonged to the Milky Way or not. While Bolton was wrong in suggesting Centaurus A and Virgo A were peculiar Galactic sources, Bolton changed his opinion within months of the paper's publication as new optical data was analysed. The results of the 1949 paper gained the interest of traditional optical astronomers and is often considered the beginning of extragalactic radio astronomy. The 1949 paper was likely the most important and impactful paper produced in Bolton's career. On the basis of his recent academic success, Bolton did a tour of the key astronomy and radio engineering labs of the Northern Hemisphere in 1950. He was met with a frosty reception at the Cavendish by
Martin Ryle Sir Martin Ryle (27 September 1918 – 14 October 1984) was an English radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see e.g. aperture synthesis) and used them for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sourc ...
and
Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father William Henry Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by m ...
, who were having too many guests visiting the lab at the time. However, during his Cambridge visit Bolton got to know the astrophysicist
Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper, B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on oth ...
, which started a lifelong friendship and collaboration. After returning from his trip, Bolton decided sea-cliff interferometry had reached its limit in terms of discovery, and decided to emulate the 220-ft parabolic aerial used by the
Jodrell Bank Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...
group. At
Dover Heights, New South Wales Dover Heights is a cliffside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dover Heights is 9 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Its postcode is 203 ...
, they built a 72-ft parabolic dish into the soil. Using this instrument in 1953, Bolton and new CSIRO recruit Dick McGee surveyed the Galactic Plane, identifying the centre of the Milky Way -
Sagittarius A Sagittarius A (Sgr A) is a complex radio source at the center of the Milky Way, which contains a supermassive black hole. It is located between Scorpius and Sagittarius, and is hidden from view at optical wavelengths by large clouds ...
. Despite Bolton's academic success, Radio Astrophysics could only afford to build one large telescope in the 1950s. While Bolton insisted on building a larger dish modeled on his Dover Heights prototype, the laboratory favoured the Mills Cross radio interferometer. This decision led Bolton to direct conflict with his immediate boss Pawsey, after which he was reassigned by Bowen to the Cloud Physics division of Radio Astrophysics. This allowed Bowen to alleviate the conflict and provided the expertise of Bolton to his Cloud Physics group. During Bolton's detour away from radio astronomy, he worked on understanding how to seed rainfall using silver iodide smoke jettisoned from aircraft. However, Bolton was aware during his brief stint in Cloud physics of the potential opportunity to start the radio astronomy group being established in California. Bolton accepted the position to set up a large radio telescope near
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
offered by Lee Alvin DuBridge in 1954.


Caltech and Owens Valley

On joining
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
as head of the radio astronomy program, Bolton set about establishing an American radio observatory using funds from the
Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
and Caltech. Along with Gordon Stanley, Bolton identified Owens Valley as an ideal site for a radio observatory because its natural mountain ranges shielded interference from coastal Californian cities and since it was reasonably close to Caltech. Bolton's priority for the type of instrument to build at Owens Valley was one that could accurately localise the position of sources to find their optical counterparts and resolve their radio structure, building on the many poor resolution detections coming from such instruments as the Mills Cross. Bolton led the building of a two-element interferometer, composed of two 90-foot antennas. This instrument would go on to be incredibly scientifically productive, the test-bed for many leading American radio astronomers, and a prototype for the
Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory in the southwestern United States built in the 1970s. It lies in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena, Ne ...
. One of the first scientific contributions from the Owens Valley telescopes was confirmation of radio emission from Jupiter, which gained significant media and institutional recognition for the instrument. With the successful building of the Owens Valley interferometer, Bolton was promoted to full-professor. He was also awarded a PhD from Caltech, but he refused to use the title throughout his life and referred to it as a "de facto" PhD. The superior resolution of the Owens Valley interferometer meant Bolton and his team were beginning to identify radio sources that still remained unresolved at 10 arcsecond resolution. Following up one of these sources in the optical, 3C295, identified the counterpart as a galaxy at a redshift of 0.46, more than doubling the distance to an object in the Universe. This line of science reasoning set the course for Bolton's career as he returned to Australia. Despite his successes at Caltech, Bolton had an understanding with Bowen that he would return to Australia when a giant radio telescope was being built. Along with poor health caused by the low air quality in Pasadena smog, Bolton and his family decided to return to Australia in 1960.


Parkes and quasars

Bolton arrived in
Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...
, Australia as the development of the new Giant Radio Telescope was underway. Bowen had procured money from the
Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in W ...
,
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
, and the Australian government to develop a 64 m dish. Bolton had already played an important role in helping assess the design of the telescope, and now took ownership of construction and commission of the Parkes dish. He was also to be the inaugural director of the telescope. The Parkes radio telescope, under guidance of Bolton, was completed on schedule and quickly contributed to two key radio astronomy results. Firstly, the telescope confirmed polarised radio emission from Centaurus A and Vela X. Detection of linear polarisation was confirmation that the radio emission from such sources is produced by the
synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The strength of the magnetic field which bends the particle beam i ...
mechanism. Secondly, and more importantly, Parkes detected
Faraday rotation The Faraday effect or Faraday rotation, sometimes referred to as the magneto-optic Faraday effect (MOFE), is a physical magneto-optical phenomenon. The Faraday effect causes a polarization rotation which is proportional to the projection of the ...
in polarised radio sources. This was the first astrophysical detection of the phenomenon and a result which was used as conclusive evidence that the
Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
possessed a magnetic field. While Bolton played a key role in the scientific direction of Parkes in these first two discoveries, his greatest scientific contribution with Parkes came with the discovery of
quasars A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...
. Building on his work identifying optical sources to radio galaxies at Caltech, such as 3C48, accumulating evidence suggested there existed a unique class of active galaxies that were 100 times brighter optically than the most luminous galaxies which had been identified previously with radio sources. While not published, Bolton was first to correctly identify the extreme distance to 3C48 two years before it was published in 1962. The record to the most distant object in the Universe was regularly held by quasars discovered at Parkes by Bolton and his team. After the discovery of the first quasars at Parkes, Bolton settled into the project that would occupy most of his time for the rest of the 1960s: surveying the southern sky with Parkes as to find new radio sources to associate to optical sources and determining their distances. He managed to follow this science path due to strong ties with optical astronomers at
Palomar Palomar may refer to: Places * Any of several locations in San Diego County, California: ** Palomar Mountain *** Palomar Mountain, California, an unincorporated community ** Palomar College in San Marcos, California *** Palomar College Transit Ce ...
and
Lick Lick may refer to: * Licking, the action of passing the tongue over a surface Places * Lick (crater), a crater on the Moon named after James Lick * 1951 Lick, an asteroid named after James Lick * Lick Township, Jackson County, Ohio, United Stat ...
Observatories. At this career stage, Bolton was also being commissioned to chair government panels and present keynote lectures - with the pinnacle presenting the talk at the
Solvay conference The Solvay Conferences () have been devoted to preeminent unsolved problems in both physics and chemistry. They began with the historic invitation-only 1911 Solvay Conference on Physics, considered a turning point in the world of physics, and ar ...
in 1964. In the 1960s, Bolton was also elected a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...
and was the inaugural
NRAO The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a federally funded research and development center of the United States National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. for the purpose of radio ...
Karl Jansky prize holder.


Parkes and the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

As director of Parkes, Bolton also played a part in the
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...
Moon landing.
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
suggested to CSIRO for Parkes to join the
Deep Space Network The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide Telecommunications network, network of spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA' ...
and be in directly involved with the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...
(JPL). Bolton was keen to join this effort as he thought Parkes had a debt to NASA and the US for their help in construction and the numerous personal relationships he had developed there. NASA's initial request was for Parkes to provide back-up in case the Apollo 11 moonwalk was delayed or in case of any failures in NASA's own tracking stations. Bolton and the Parkes technical crew took responsibility for ensuring the telescope's drive and control systems were in working order. Due to changes in the moonwalk schedule, NASA received TV signals from three sources - Goldstone,
Honeysuckle Creek The Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was a NASA Earth station in Australia near Canberra. It was instrumental to the Apollo program. The station was opened in 1967 and closed in 1981. History Honeysuckle Creek with a 26 metre dish is renown ...
, and Parkes. NASA switched between Goldstone and Honeysuckle for the first few minutes of the moonwalk but the signal from Parkes was used for the remainder of the moonwalk. The role Parkes and Bolton played in the Apollo 11 Moon landing was dramatised in the 2000 film ''
The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical drama, historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It wa ...
''. Bolton would ensure Parkes would be involved in tracking for all the Apollo missions.


Later years at Parkes and awards

Bolton stepped down as Parkes director in 1971 to ease his administrative workload. While stepping down as director, Bolton continued pursuing science. For the remainder of his scientific career, he would focus on optical identifications of radio sources that were being surveyed by Parkes at 2.7 GHz. One significant result from this survey, when combined with previous low-frequency surveys, was Bolton's discovery of the peaked-spectrum source PKS B1934-638. Bolton was elected to the
Royal Society of London 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. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
and vice-president of the
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
in 1973. Furthermore, he was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal in 1977 for his contributions to optical and radio astronomy. After a series of heart attacks, Bolton passed away in 1993.


Honours and awards

Bolton received the following awards: * 1951
Edgeworth David Medal The Edgeworth David Medal is awarded annually by the Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Societ ...
(Australia) * 1967 First Karl Jansky Lecturer (U.S.) * 1968 Henry Norris Lecturer (U.S.) * 1969 Elected
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...
* 1972 Elected 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 ...
* 1973 Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union (1973–79) * Elected
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 ...
of London * Elected Honorary Fellow of the
Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...
* 1977
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...
* 1980 Elected Foreign Associate of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 1982 Commander of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
* 1988
Bruce Medal The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was ...
of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is an American scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889, immediately following the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on ...
(U.S.)


In popular culture

* The Australian movie ''
The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical drama, historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It wa ...
'' was about the role of the Parkes Radio Telescope in the Moon landing in 1969. The role of the director of the observatory (Cliff Buxton, played by
Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile acto ...
) is based on John Bolton. * Bolton had the asteroid 12140 Johnbolton named in his honour.


References


External links


Jansky Prize




from the
Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...


Obituaries


JApA 14 (1993) 115






{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, John G. 1922 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Australian astronomers People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Radio astronomers Royal Navy personnel of World War II British emigrants to Australia