Frank Arakel BOZYAN

1937 - 2015

BOZYAN, Frank Arakel
Frank Arakel "Arak" Bozyan died July 28th at home in Lakeway, Texas. He was born November 11, 1937. He attended Westminster School. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor's in Engineering (1961), and both a Master's (1965) and Ph.D. (1969) in Astronomy. He served in the US Army 1956-58. Arakel had a lifelong love of sailing and astronomy. He ground his own telescope mirror as a teen and sailed avidly, starting very young on Narragansett Bay. Arakel was four years old in the first photo of him sailing. His first boat was a Cat Boat the "Jack Rose" built in 1895. He went to India on a Fulbright scholarship in 1961 where he built a decameter radio telescope to observe Jupiter. Observations from this telescope combined with those from radio telescopes he had built with Jim Douglas at Yale University allowed for 24 hour monitoring of the planet. This made it possible to determine the internal rotation rate of Jupiter, the measurement still stands today.

In 1966, Arakel took a position as a research scientist at the University of Texas in the Astronomy Department when the University of Texas Radio Astronomy Observatory was formed. He served as the Assistant Director until its closing in 1990. For the Texas Survey (an all sky low frequency survey), Arakel was involved with the surveying and laying out of the radio telescope interferometer arrays, building the arrays, writing complex computer code and helping analyze the data. He also continued decameter observations of Jupiter.

While living in Austin, he bought Ensign #465 and named her "Io" after the moon with the fastest orbit around Jupiter. He became very active in the Austin Yacht Club racing competitively for years. He served as Race Commander twice, Vice-Commodore, Commodore, Past Commodore and Secretary. He was a member of the U.S. Yacht Racing Union and was designated a senior race officer. He served as a Faculty advisor to the U.T. sailing team.

After the Radio Observatory closed, Arakel and Elizabeth, his wife, moved full time to Middletown Rhode Island to land bequeathed by his father and built a beautiful house that looked out over the Sakonnet River. He and his wife continued sailing an Ensign, #332, on Narragansett Bay. Over the next 22 years he taught undergraduate courses at the University of Rhode Island, Providence College, Rhode Island College and Bristol Community College. He also served as treasurer of Newport Congregational Church and became active in local government serving on the Middletown Zoning Board of Review and a term, 2008-10, as a Town Council member.

In 2013, Arakel and his wife returned to Texas to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. In 2014, he sailed on Ensign #324 (owned by Jonathan Baker, son of his very good friend Jim Baker) in the Chaparrals de Mar Regatta, "Old Salts Regatta" at the Austin Yacht Club, which he won. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his daughter, Ellen; son, Frank and his wife, Farah and their children, Isabella and Electra.

Friday, July 31st at 10:30 AM there will be a graveside service at Remembrance Gardens at Riverbend Church followed by lunch at County Line on the Hill at noon.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the La Farge Restoration Fund at Newport Congregational Church, 73 Pelham Street, Newport, RI 02842.