Advancement of Science (SAAAS), and in 1927-1928 as President of the Astronomical Society of South Africa (ASSA). Much of his work was communicated through Edward C. Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory. However, with the death of Pickering in 1919 he ceased further research. Instead he began to focus on politics and race relations in South Africa, teaching at the South African Native College at Fort Hare. The Prime Minister Jan Smuts appointed him as a senator to represent the interests of native Africans on the Native Affairs Commission in 1920, which he also chaired. Seen as an able and unbiased mediator he also chaired the commission into the 1920 riots at Port Elizabeth and the 1922 Bondelswarts Rebellion. In 1923 he also chaired the Native Churches Commission. In 1925, however, he did serve as the South African delegate to the I.A.U. General Assembly. In 1930 he sat as a Member of the Native Economic Commission. He died at Alice in South Africa on 21 January 1938. Recognition The crater Roberts on the Moon is co-named for him and Sir Isaac Roberts. Family In 1894 he was married to Elizabeth Dunnett. The couple had three children, two daughters and one son. References Further reading Snedegar, Keith (2015). Mission, Science and Race in South Africa: A.W. Roberts of Lovedale, 1883-1938. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. . 188 pp. External links Roberts, Alexander William PhD 1857 births 1938 deaths South African astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science