Editing David Bates (physicist)

{{short description|Irish physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = David Bates
| image             =
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1916|11|18|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Omagh]], [[County Tyrone]], [[Northern Ireland]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1994|1|5|1916|11|18|df=y}}
| death_place       = Belfast, [[Northern Ireland]]
| nationality       = British
| field             = [[Physicist]]
| work_institution  = [[Admiralty Mining Establishment]]<br />[[University College London]]<br />[[Queen's University of Belfast]]
| alma_mater        = Queen's University of Belfast
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Harrie Massey]]
| doctoral_students = [[M. J. Seaton|Michael J. Seaton]]
| known_for         = 
| awards            = {{no wrap|[[Hughes Medal]] {{small|(1970)}}<br />[[The Chree Medal and Prize]] {{small|(1973)}}}}
| religion          = 
| footnotes         =  
}}
'''Sir David Robert Bates''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS}}<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Dalgarno | first1 = A. | author-link = Alexander Dalgarno| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1997.0004 | title = Sir David Robert Bates. 18 November 1916 – 5 January 1994: Elected F.R.S. 1955 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 43 | pages = 49 | year = 1997 | s2cid = 122727723 }}</ref> (18 November 1916 – 5 January 1994) was a [[Northern Irish people|Northern Irish]] [[mathematician]] and [[physicist]].<ref name="obit_qjras">{{cite journal
 | last = Seaton
 | first = M. J.
 | author-link = M. J. Seaton 
 | title = Sir David Bates, FRS (1916–1994)
 | journal = [[Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
 | volume = 37
 | number = 1
 | pages = 81–83
 | publisher = [[Royal Astronomical Society]]
 | date = 1996
 | bibcode = 1996QJRAS..37...81S
 }}</ref>

Born in [[Omagh]], [[County Tyrone]], 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 [[World War II|Second World War]] he worked at the [[Admiralty Mining Establishment]] where he developed methods of protecting ships from magnetically activated [[Naval mine|mine]]s.

Working at [[University College London]] 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.<ref name="frs"/>

His contributions to science include seminal works on [[atmospheric physics]], [[molecular physics]] and the chemistry of [[interstellar cloud]]s. He was [[knight]]ed in 1978 for his services to science, was a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name="frs"/> and vice-president of the [[Royal Irish Academy]]. In 1970 he won the [[Hughes Medal]]. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1974.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=21 May 2011}}</ref>

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.<ref name="biogencastron">{{cite book
 | last = Dalgarno 
 | first = A.
 | author-link = Alexander Dalgarno 
 | contribution = Bates, David Robert
 | year = 2014
 | title = Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers 
 | editor-last = Hockey    | editor-first = Thomas
 | editor2-last = Trimble  | editor2-first = Virginia
 | editor3-last = Williams | editor3-first = Thomas R.
 | publisher = [[Springer Publishing]] | isbn = 978-0-387-31022-0 
 | access-date = 13 June 2016 | chapter-url = http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/58126.html
 | doi = 10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_122
| title-link = Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
 | pages = 170–171
 }}</ref>

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 Geosciences Union|European Geophysical Society]] is awarded yearly for outstanding contributions to planetary and solar system science,<ref>[http://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/awards-and-medals/award/david-bates.html European Geosciences Union – Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719010517/http://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/awards-and-medals/award/david-bates.html |date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> and the [[Institute of Physics]] have the David Bates Prize, awarded in even dated years, for ''distinguished achievement in atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics''.

== See also ==
* [[Alexander Dalgarno]]
* [[Atomic physics]]
* [[Molecular physics]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.am.qub.ac.uk Dept of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, QUB]
* [http://www.tampa.phys.ucl.ac.uk/amp/ AMOP Group at University College London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230053220/http://www.tampa.phys.ucl.ac.uk/amp/ |date=30 December 2006 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111005071803/http://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/awards-and-medals/award/portrait-david-robert-bates.html Biography by EGU]

{{Authority control}}

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