Sir David Bates studied upper atmospheric physics, the chemistry of interstellar clouds, and theoretical atomic and molecular physics, laying the groundwork for the science now sometimes called aeronomy. A life-long peace activist in Ireland, he was co-founder of the non-sectarian Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. He is the namesake of two honors given for high scientific achievement: the European Geophysical Society's Bates Medal for astronomy, and the Institute of Physics' Bates Prize for atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics.
[1] Alliance Party.
Father: Walter Vivian Bates (pharmacist)
Mother: Mary Olive Shera Bates
Sister: Margaret Bates
Wife: Barbara Bates (m. 1956)
Son: Adam Bates
Daughter: Katherine Bates
High School: Royal Belfast Academical Institution (1934)
University: BS Physics, Queen's University Belfast (1937)
University: MS Physics, Queen's University Belfast (1938)
Teacher: University College London (1945-51)
University: DSc Physics, University College London (1951)
Professor: Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Queen's University Belfast (1951-94)
Knight of the British Empire 1978
Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal 1977 (with John G. Bolton)
Hughes Medal 1970
National Academy of Sciences
Royal Society
Author of books:
The Planet Earth (1957)
Advances in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (1993, with Benjamin Bederson)
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