Sir David Robert Bates FRS[1] (18 November 1916 – 5 January 1994) was a Northern Irish mathematician and physicist.
Although he officially retired in 1982 he continued to work in the department as an emeritus professor until his death.
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974.
[3] Bates was a lifelong advocate of peace and a non-sectarian Northern Ireland.
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,[5] 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.