Bolton was born in
Camp Forrest, a military base in
Tullahoma, Tennessee. In 1970, Bolton developed the first computer models for
stellar spectra that were precise enough to compare with data from real stars. Bolton observed star
HDE 226868 wobble as if it were orbiting around an invisible but massive companion emitting powerful X-rays, independently of the work by
Louise Webster and
Paul Murdin, at the
Royal Greenwich Observatory. Further analysis gave an estimate about the amount of mass needed for the gravitational pull, which proved to be too much for a
neutron star. After more observations confirmed the results, by 1973, the astronomical community generally recognized
black hole Cygnus X-1, lying in the plane of the
Milky Way galaxy at a galactic latitude of about 3 degrees. In 1985, Bolton and Douglas Gies showed that hot, massive
"runaway OB stars" (stars that travel at an abnormally high
velocity relative to the surrounding
interstellar medium), could be accelerated through stellar interactions within star clusters, in addition to being ejected from binary systems after
supernova explosions. He was a fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada. ==References==