Description
Book SynopsisThis open access book is a biography of Joseph L. Pawsey. It examines not only his life but the birth and growth of the field of radio astronomy and the state of science itself in twentieth century Australia. The book explains how an isolated continent with limited resources grew to be one of the leaders in the study of radio astronomy and the design of instruments to do so.
Pawsey made a name for himself in the international astronomy community within a decade after WWII and coined the term radio astronomy. His most valuable talent was his ability to recruit and support bright young scientists who became the technical and methodological innovators of the era, building new telescopes from the Mills Cross and Chris (Christiansen) Cross to the Parkes radio telescope.
The development of aperture synthesis and the controversy surrounding the cosmological interpretation of the first major survey which resulted in the Sydney research group's disagreements with Nobel laureate Martin Ryle play major roles in this story. This book also shows the connections among prominent astronomers like Oort, Minkowski, Baade, Struve, famous scientists in the UK such as J.A. Ratcliffe, Edward Appleton and Henry Tizard, and the engineers and physicists in Australia who helped develop the field of radio astronomy. Pawsey was appointed the second Director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Green Bank, West Virginia) in October 1961; he died in Sydney at the age of 54 in late November 1962.
Upper level students, scientists and historians of astronomy and technology will find the information, much of it from primary sources, relevant to any study of Joseph L. Pawsey or radio astronomy. This open access book includes a Foreword by Woodruff T. Sullivan II.
Trade Review“This comprehensive biography draws on an extraordinarily large volume of international and institutional archival material, supplemented by multiple interviews and extensive discussions with astronomical colleagues of Pawsey. … The remarkable life and career of Joe Pawsey deserves to be more widely known by the international astronomical community.” (Peter Robertson, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Vol. 26 (3), 2023)
Table of ContentsFrontispiece and cover
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Part 1: Childhood
1 An Inheritance of Intangibles, 1890s
2 Just a Boy from the Bush, 1908-1925
3 Becoming a Physicist, 1926-1929
Part 2: Becoming a scientist
4 New Opportunities in Australian science, 1929
5 Ionospheric Research, 1895-1935
6 To the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge 1931
7 Research for PhD Thesis at Cambridge 1931-1934
8 After the PhD: Electric and Musical Industries (EMI) and Marriage to Lenore Nicoll 1934-
1939
Part 3: WWII 1939-1945
9 J.L. Pawsey’s Role in Australian Radar Research in World War II
10 Transition to Peace, 1945-1946
Part 4: Hot Corona
11 Beginnings of Solar Radio Astronomy, 1944-1945
12 Serendipity: Sunspots at Collaroy, 1945-1946
13 Sea-cliff Interferometry: Dover Heights, 1946
14 The Million Degree Solar Corona, 1945-1946
Part 5: Connections
15 Horizons 1944-1947
16 A New Field of Science
17 Pursuing “Radio Astronomy”: Pawsey’s travels to North America, the UK and Europe,
1947-1948
18 Scintillating Relationship with Cambridge, 1948-1951
Part 6: Quiet Leadership
19 Consolidation: Leadership at RPL, 1950-1951
20 Finite Resources: Pawsey & the HI line
21 No More Radio Stars! 1952
22 1953: "Radio" is Part of Astronomy
23 The Galactic Centre, 1951-1954
24 The Royal Society: Europe and North America, 1954
25 The Sun and the Ionosphere
26 Overseas again: Jodrell Bank and IAU, August 1955
Part 7: Towards a Bigger Science
27 Pawsey and the Giant Radio Telescope, 1951-1956
28 Brain Drain - Trip to US and Canada 1957-1959
29 Driving the GRT, 1957-1959
30 Schism at Radiophysics (1960)
31 John Bolton Returns, 1960-1961
32 Reflections on Science at/from the GRT
Part 8: The Development of Understanding
33 Pawsey and Philosophy of Science
34 The Development of a Theory for Radio Emission
35 Radio Source Survey: disputes, 1948-1957
36 Radio Source Survey: reconciliation, 1958-1962
37 The Evolution of Aperture Synthesis Imaging
Part 9: Death and Legacy
38 To the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1961
39 Visions for NRAO, 1962
40 The Final Year – 1962
41 Legacy
42 Conclusion: J.L. Pawsey (1908-1962) and the Development of Radio Astronomy
Appendix A: Abbreviations
Appendix B: Dramatis Personae
Appendix C: Timeline
Appendix D: Electronic Supplemental Material (ESM)
Appendix E: NRAO ONLINE Supplementary Resources
References
