{{Short description|Australian astronomer}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Roberta Anne Vaile | image = | image_size = | caption = | other_names = 'Bobbie' Vaile | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date text|25 June 1959}} | birth_place = Junee, New South Wales | death_date = {{death date and age|13 November 1996|25 June 1959}} | death_place = | burial_place = | alma_mater = University of New South Wales | occupation = astrophysicist | years_active = | known_for = "Unsung Hero of Australian Science" award }}
'''Dr Roberta Anne 'Bobbie' Vaile''' (25 June 1959 – 13 November 1996) was an Australian astrophysicist and senior lecturer in physics at the Faculty of Business and Technology at the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur. She was involved with Project Phoenix (a SETI experiment) and influential in the establishment of the SETI Australia Centre, created at the university in 1995.<ref name="springer" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research |title=Vaile, Roberta Anne (Bobbie) - Bright Sparcs Biographical entry |url=https://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002633b.htm |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=www.asap.unimelb.edu.au |language=en-gb}}</ref>
== Biography == Vaile was born in Junee, New South Wales. She attended the University of Newcastle, where she received her B.Sc. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales with a thesis entitled "The Corona Australis Complex" in 1989.<ref name=":0" />
Vale was awarded the Australian Science Communicators' "Unsung Hero of Australian Science" award in 1995 for her work in developing easy and friendly methods of teaching science.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Unsung Hero of Science Communication |url=http://www.asc.asn.au/about/unsung-hero-of-scicomm/ |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=Australian Science Communicators}}</ref>
Other published papers include: Seth Shostak, Ron Ekers, Roberta Vaile, 1996. A Search for Artificial Signals from the Small Magellanic Cloud ''The Astronomical Journal 112'', 164-166.
== Death and legacy == Valie died in 1996 following a seven-year battle with an inoperable brain tumour.<ref name="springer" /><ref name=":1" />
A memorial garden at the University of Western Sydney was dedicated to Vaile in 1999, and there is a park/reserve in Camden, New South Wales (at {{nowrap|{{coord|34|03|33|S|150|42|42|E|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW|display=inline|name=Bobbie Vaile Reserve}}}}), named after her.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camden Council Disability Action Plan, 2003 -2007 |url=http://camdencouncil.sitesuite.ws/files/DAP_-_Strategies.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000001/http://camdencouncil.sitesuite.ws/files/DAP_-_Strategies.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=camdencouncil.sitesuite.ws |page=28}}</ref>
The binary main-belt asteroid 6708 Bobbievaile, discovered by Australian astronomer Robert McNaught in 1989, was also named in her memory;<ref name="springer" /> the naming citation was published on 22 April 1997 ({{small|M.P.C. 29671}}).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />
== References == <references>
<ref name="springer">{{cite book |title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (6708) Bobbievaile |last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. |publisher = Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page = 551 |date = 2007 |isbn = 978-3-540-00238-3 |doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_6048 |chapter = (6708) Bobbievaile }}</ref>
<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive">{{cite web |title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive |work = Minor Planet Center |url = http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html |accessdate = 13 March 2017}}</ref>
</references> <!-- end of reflist --> *
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaile, Bobbie}} Category:20th-century Australian astronomers Category:Australian women astronomers Category:Australian astronomers Category:1959 births Category:1996 deaths Category:University of New South Wales alumni Category:People from Junee Category:20th-century Australian women scientists