2024 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize Awarded to Wayne Orchiston

The Historical Astronomy Division Prize Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Wayne Orchiston is the recipient of the 2024 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize for Historical Astronomy. The Doggett Prize is awarded biennially to an individual who has significantly influenced the field of the history of our discipline.  During a career spanning six decades, Dr. Orchiston has made many contributions to the history of astronomy, only a few of which are outlined below.

Dr. Orchiston co-founded and serves as Co-Editor of the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (JAHH).  He is the original editor of Springer's Historical and Cultural Astronomy book series, as well as the Radio Astronomy Thematic Editor of Springer's third edition of the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.  He is also author of the book Nautical Astronomy in New Zealand: The Voyages of James Cook (Carter Observatory, 1998).

Dr. Orchiston is currently on the faculty of the University of Science and Technology of China.  He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia where he supervises doctoral students in the History of Astronomy.

Dr. Orchiston began his career as a Technical Assistant in the Division of Radiophysics at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Sydney, Australia in 1961.  Concurrently, as a part time student, he earned a First Class B.A. Honours degree, was awarded the University Medal, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in environmental prehistory at the University of Sydney.  In 1973 he accepted a post-doctoral position in Prehistory and Ethnohistory at the University of Melbourne, which signaled his intense passion for the history of astronomy and, especially, ethnoastronomy. For example, at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Dr. Orchiston launched the world’s first part-time off-campus History of Astronomy doctoral program.  Since then, Dr. Orchiston has held a series of academic and professional society positions with increasing focus on the international aspects of astronomical history. 

Dr. Orchiston is a prolific writer, with more than 500 astronomy publications, including 15 books between 1998 and 2021.  Many of these have become the standard reference works for the astronomical histories of New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia and Asia.  He has also authored important reviews of the history of radio astronomy in Australia, India, Japan and New Zealand.

The Historical Astronomy Division is pleased to recognize Dr. Orchiston for his outstanding record of scholarship and his many contributions to the history of astronomy. The award will be presented to him at a plenary session of the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society during January 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana.