Agathe Henriette Franziska Thornton (née Schwarzschild; 20 November 1910 – 21 October 2006)[1] was a New Zealand academic specialising in classics and Māori studies.
There she studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, supported by the astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, and with financial aid from an anonymous donor who was later identified as Sir Arthur Eddington.
At the outbreak of World War II she avoided internment on the Isle of Man thanks to support from W. H. M. Greaves, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who stood bail for her.
[4] In 1947 her family moved to New Zealand,[3] and from 1948 onwards both Agathe and her husband Harry taught as lecturers at the University of Otago in Dunedin.
After retirement in 1975, she continued publishing in the field of classics, while also learning the Māori language for the purpose of scholarship.