William John Tobin

William John Tobin (28 July 1953 – 7 July 2022) was a British–New Zealand astronomer and academic. In the 2019 United Kingdom general election he stood as an independent candidate against Boris Johnson in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. As he had not resided in Britain for more than 15 years he was ineligible to vote but eligible to stand as a candidate. He focused his campaign on voting rights using the slogan "Don't vote for Tobin, let Tobin vote". He gained five votes.

Early life and education Tobin was born in Manchester and attended Stockport Grammar School. He was an undergraduate at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge graduating with a degree in natural sciences.

Career From 1979 to 1982 Tobin held a postdoctoral lectureship at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and from 1982 to 1987 a position at the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory. thumb

In 1987 Tobin became a lecturer in astronomy at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He held that position for 19 years until his retirement in 2006. During that time he was also the director of the Mt John University Observatory where he studied the star beta Pictoris.

The history of astronomy was another field of Tobin's research. He studied the past Transit of Venus expeditions and wrote a biography of the French physicist Léon Foucault. Tobin's research on telescopes made by James Short found that Otago Museum's telescope was made in 1736 making it the oldest telescope in New Zealand.

Tobin retired to France but continued to work on astronomy projects. He also promoted electoral reform, particularly proportional representation having observed the change in New Zealand from a first-past-the-post system to mixed-member proportional representation. He detailed his reasons for standing and his campaign in his book I'm standing!: the story of my candidacy, with advice for future candidates.

Selected works Books

Tobin, W. (2003). The life and science of Léon Foucault: the man who proved the earth rotates.

Articles Tobin W.; Kaufmann, J. P. (1984). "Analysis of the three high-velocity B stars HD 125924, 165955 and CPD - 72 deg 1184". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 207: 369–392.

Tobin, W. (Dec 2016). 'Concerning heritage telescopes' Southern stars. 55 (4): 21–23. Tobin, W. (Jun 2017). 'The Louwman Collection of historic telescopes.' Southern stars. 56 (2): 6–9.

Tobin, W. (2021). 'Two photograph albums from the German transit of Venus expedition to the Auckland Islands in 1874.' Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 24 (3): 823–861. Teaching Antarctic astronomy