Michael John Seaton (16 January 1923 – 29 May 2007) was an influential British mathematician, atomic physicist, and astronomer. He was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, and educated at

Wallington County Grammar School Wallington County Grammar School (WCGS) is a selective state boys' grammar school with a coeducational Sixth Form located in the London Borough of Sutton. From 1968 to the mid-1990s the school was known as Wallington High School for Boys. One ...

(WCGS), a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in Surrey, where he won prizes for his achievements in chemistry. From 1941 to 1946 he served in the wartime

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

as a Flight Lieutenant. In this capacity he served first in RAF Bomber Command, navigating Avro Lancasters, and later in one of the elite

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squadrons, such was his capacity to apply his understanding of mathematics to the task before him. After demobilisation, he returned to his studies, and the start of a long career at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. Gaining a First Class

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in physics just two years later, he continued, obtaining his PhD on ''Quantal Calculations of certain reaction rates with applications to Astrophysical and Geophysical problems'' in 1951. He later did important work on the Quantum Defect Theory. With a break as Chargé de Recherché at the

Institut d'astrophysique de Paris The Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (translated: Paris Institute of Astrophysics) is a research institute in Paris, France. The Institute is part of the Sorbonne University and is associated with the CNRS Centre national de la recherche scientifi ...

from 1954 to 1955, he rose through the ranks at the Department of Physics at UCL, becoming a Reader in 1959, and Professor of Physics in 1963. He was made a Fellow of the College in 1972, the year in which the Departments of Physics and Astronomy merged. He held the status of

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

and Honorary Research Fellow from 1988 until his death. In 1964 he became Fellow-Adjoint at the

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute of ...

(JILA) in Boulder, Colorado, a combined venture between the American

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...

and the

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. In 1967 he was elected Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He held Honorary Membership of the American Astronomical Society, awarded in 1983, and was made Foreign Associate of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1986. Seaton held the Presidency of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

ASbetween 1979 and 1981, and was awarded its Gold Medal in 1983. This was followed by the

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, from the

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in 1984, and the

Hughes Medal The Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with ...

of the

in 1992. Seaton served as Senior Fellow to the Science and Engineering Research Council

EPSRC The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...

, 1984–88. Other honours include: Honorary Doctorate, Observatoire de Paris, 1976; Honorary

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

QUB, 1982.

References

External links

Obituary, The Times, 7 June 2007Obituary, UCL, September 2007Obituary, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 31 December 2007Biographical Notes, Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, August 2006

Atomic Physics & Astrophysics Group - "Research B - Theoretical" section in: From Lardner to Massey, by JW Fox

Atoms and Astrophysics: Mike Seaton's legacy - Research meeting held at UCL, April 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaton, MJ 1923 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English mathematicians Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London Fellows of the Royal Society Scientists from Bristol Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society People educated at Wallington County Grammar School Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences English nuclear physicists 20th-century British astronomers Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society