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Last updated 2009 July 1

Dr Andrew Hollis

BAA electronic circular No. 00211

Dear fellow BAA Member,

Once again this November I have very sad news to pass on, namely that Dr Andy Hollis died on Monday morning, November 21st. Tragically, Andy had been diagnosed with bone cancer in September of last year and it was to this illness that he finally succumbed.

Born in Cambridge in 1947, he spent his early youth in Great Yarmouth before moving to Hatfield, when at the early age of 14 he became a member of the Association. During the 60's and 70's he was an active variable star and planetary observer and contributed many observations to the sections. In 1980, Andy led the Minor Planet Group as part of the then Terrestrial Planets Section before in 1984 becoming the founding director of the Minor Planets Section, later to become the Asteroids and Remote Planets Section.

In 1992 he was awarded the Merlin Medal and later was one of the very first students of the Open University to receive a Doctorate of Philosophy, his thesis being on the subject of shape studies of asteroids and their orbital evolution. A skillful visual observer he was one of the pioneering few during the 80's in applying photoelectric photometry to the study of stars, asteroids and planetary satellites. Unfortunately his health became problematic during the 1990's when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, initially of a mild form but later more debilitating. Andy's reaction to this was very much in character in that he redoubled his efforts to attend more meetings and publish more papers in the Journal, both of which I am pleased to say he achieved.

Andy was very popular and a good friend to many in the Association, not least myself. It goes without saying that he will be greatly missed. A full obituary in recognition of his life will be published in the Journal in due course.

Richard Miles

BAA President

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