1. Bart Bok is best known for his work on the structure and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, and for the discovery of Bok globules, which are small, densely dark clouds of interstellar gas and dust that can be seen silhouetted against brighter backgrounds.
Bart Bok married fellow astronomer Priscilla Fairfield in 1929, and for the remainder of their lives, the two collaborated so closely on their astronomical work that the Royal Astronomical Society said "from that point on it is difficult and pointless to separate his achievements from hers".
Bart Bok was an exceedingly popular personality in the field of astronomy, noted for his affability and humor.
Bart Bok attended high school in The Hague, excelling at mathematics and science, and he told the story that this was where he met a Scoutmaster who introduced him to the night sky while on camping trips away from the city lights.
Priscilla Fairfield was an associate professor in Astronomy, and the young Bart Bok was assigned to her reception committee.
Bart Bok was a graduate student ten years her junior, but he fell in love and proposed to her at the end of the conference.
Priscilla did not accept his proposal at the time, and Bart Bok corresponded with her for the next year before she finally agreed.
Bart Bok was steadily promoted through the academic ranks: he completed his Doctoral dissertation entitled "A Study of the Eta Carinae Region" in 1932, became an assistant professor in 1933, an associate professor in 1939, associate director of the Harvard Observatory by 1946, and he became a full professor in 1947 when he was appointed to the Robert Wheeler Wilson Chair in Astronomy.
When Bart Bok became a naturalized US citizen in 1938, he shortened his first name to "Bart Bok".
The Bart Bok family traveled to spend time setting up two international facilities on opposite sides of the world.
In 1957, the Boks moved to Australia, where Bart took up the position of Director at Mount Stromlo Observatory in the Australian National University in Canberra, which he was to hold for the next nine years.
Bart Bok's presence was a crucial factor in the development of optical astronomy in Australia, and its integration with the well-established field of radio astronomy.
Bart Bok was a pioneer in the use of electronic computers for astronomical observing, and the first person to use them for any purpose at the ANU: in February 1960 he had the first one installed in the observatory.
Bart Bok was a pioneer in taking advantage of mass media to promote astronomy: he made a television series which was broadcast on the ABC, reaching far more people than any of his predecessors dreamed of and helping to build awareness and support for astronomy in Australia.
However, Bart Bok appreciated the limitations of the site of Mount Stromlo due to weather and increasing light pollution, and he initiated a site-testing program which stretched across the country.
Bart Bok was a tireless promoter of astronomy to the general public, trying to keep to a routine of devoting three days each month to public lectures:.
In 1966, the Boks moved back to the US, where Bart took up the roles of Head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and Director of Steward Observatory, posts which he held until 1970.
From 1970, when he left his positions at Steward University and the University of Arizona, Bart Bok became more actively involved in national and global organizations for professional astronomers.
Priscilla suffered a stroke in 1972; her health declined in the following years, and Bart Bok resigned his positions with the IAU and the AAS in 1974 and dedicated himself to her care.
In 1975 Bart Bok coauthored the statement Objections to Astrology, which was endorsed by 186 professional astronomers, astrophysicists, and other scientists, including nineteen winners of the Nobel Prize.
In 2000, Bart Bok was voted by readers of Skeptical Inquirer magazine as one of the "outstanding skeptics of the twentieth century".
At a meeting of the executive council of CSI in Denver, Colorado in April 2011, Bart Bok was selected for inclusion in CSI's Pantheon of Skeptics.
Bart Bok continued as an emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, and he participated in or led several groups to view solar eclipses, including a trip to the eclipse near Bratsk in Siberia in July 1981 and his last eclipse trip to what he called his "spiritual home" of Java to view a totality that passed near the town of Salatiga in June 1983.
Bart Bok died of a heart attack at his home in Tucson, Arizona a little more than a month after that final trip.
Bart Bok's body was bequeathed to the college of medicine at the University of Arizona.