Ben Gascoigne was a New Zealand-born Australian optical astronomer. He played a leading role in the design and commissioning of Australia’s largest optical telescope, the Anglo-Australian Telescope. He and astronomer Gerald Kron used newly modernised telescopes to determine that the distance between our galaxy and the Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxies had been underestimated by a factor of two.
About Ben Gascoigne in brief
Ben Gascoigne was a New Zealand-born Australian optical astronomer. He played a leading role in the design and commissioning of Australia’s largest optical telescope, the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Born in Napier, New Zealand, he trained in Auckland and at the University of Bristol. He moved to Australia during World War II to work at the Commonwealth Solar Observatory at Mount Stromlo in Canberra. After the war, he and astronomer Gerald Kron used newly modernised telescopes to determine that the distance between our galaxy and the Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxies had been underestimated by a factor of two. The result effectively doubled the estimated size of the universe. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contributions to astronomy. After he retired, he wrote several works on Australian astronomical history. He acted as Rosalie’s photographer and assistant, using his technical skills to make her artworks resilient for public display. His first task was to design an anti-aircraft gun sight, and he was also involved in a range of other military optical projects. In 1944, the Commonwealth Observatory in Melbourne was closed to the Commonwealth Service. His last job was as an optical astronomer at the Royal Observatory of New Zealand in Auckland. He died in 2007, aged 89, and is survived by his wife and three children. He is buried in the Auckland suburb of Waverly, where he lived with his second wife, Rosalies King Walker, until his death in 2011.
He had three children with his third wife, who died in 2012, and a daughter with her third husband, Richard van der Riet, who also died in 2011, at the age of 89. He also had a son with his fourth wife, Peter, who is now a professor of physics and astronomy at Sydney University. He has a grandson, David, who works at the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra, and two step-grandchildren. His great-great-grandson is the Australian politician and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was born in New Zealand and now lives in Adelaide, South Australia. The Gascoignes have a daughter, Sophie, who lives in Sydney with her husband and two children. The couple have a son, David, who worked at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra as an astronomer and is now the director of the Australian Astronomy Centre in Sydney. The family also has a son David who is an Australian citizen, and a step-son who lives in Perth, South West Australia. In his spare time, he is the father of two children, David and Samantha, who were born in 1987 and 2010, respectively. He spent most of his time in Australia working on military projects, including the construction of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He retired from his post at the end of the 1990s in a position of responsibility at the Royal Astronomical Society of Australia and the Australian Institute of Technology in Sydney, Australia.
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