Frank Maine Bateson OBE (31 October 1909 – 16 April 2007) was a New Zealand astronomer who specialised in the study of variable stars.

His interest in astronomy developed during his school years in Sydney, Australia[1] when he read Robert Stawell Ball's Great Astronomers.

[2] In 1927, at the age of 18, he founded the Variable Star Section (VSS) of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand.

He received the Jackson-Gwilt Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1960 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato in 1979.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 New Year Honours for services to astronomy, and the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1980.