Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy

Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy PDF

Author: Wayne Orchiston

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-01-20

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 3319918435

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The evolution of Australian radio astronomy from 1945 to 1960 has been studied in detail by numerous historians of science in recent years. This Open Access book is the first to present an overview of this remarkable chapter in Australian science. The book begins in the post-war period, as the Radiophysics Laboratory in Sydney switched from secret wartime research on radar to peacetime applications of this new technology. Next follows the detection of radio waves from space and the ensuing transformation of this fledgling science into the dominant research program at the Radiophysics Lab. Drawing from this history, the book shows how by 1960 the Radiophysics Lab had become the largest and most successful radio astronomy group in the world. The final chapter presents an overview of Australian radio astronomy from 1960 to the present day, as Australia prepares to co-host the multi-national, multi-billion-dollar Square Kilometre Array. Nearly 300 high-quality images complement the text, drawn from a wide range of sources including the extensive collection held by the CSIRO Radio Astronomy Image Archive. The book will be an essential reference for readers interested in the scientific and cultural development of radio astronomy. This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

John Tebbutt

John Tebbutt PDF

Author: Wayne Orchiston

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-15

Total Pages: 555

ISBN-13: 3319445219

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This book marks the centennial of Tebbutt's death with a major biographical account surveying his scientific contributions to astronomy, prefaced with a foreword by Sir Patrick Moore. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Tebbutt was Australia's foremost astronomer. He devoted his time and funds to astronomy, and built a truly international reputation that far surpassed Australia's leading professional astronomers of the day. This book marks the centennial of Tebbutt's death with a major biographical account. Tebbutt's remarkable record of achievement extends over more than half a century. Orchiston's book covers the whole of Tebbutt's career, from his yearly observatory reports and comet discoveries to his time as the first president of Sydney's branch of the British Astronomical Association.

Astronomy Across Cultures

Astronomy Across Cultures PDF

Author: Helaine Selin

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 9401141797

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Astronomy Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Astronomy consists of essays dealing with the astronomical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Polynesian, Egyptian and Tibetan astronomy, among others, the book includes essays on Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them and Astronomy and Prehistory, and Astronomy and Astrology. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate astronomical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

History of Oriental Astronomy

History of Oriental Astronomy PDF

Author: S.M. Ansari

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 9401598622

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Proceedings of the Joint Discussion-17 at the 23rd IAU General Assembly, organised by the Commission 41, held in Kyoto, Japan, August 25-26, 1997

Australian Astronomers

Australian Astronomers PDF

Author: R. S. Bhathal

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13:

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Exploring the careers of some of Australia's best-known astronomers, this collection of interviews is a celebration of our curiosity about the universe. Through their own words, 18 leading scientists including Bart Bok, John Bolton, Chris Christiansen, Hanbury Brown, Bernard Mills and Paul Wild among others, reveal their own perceptions of their work at the moving frontiers of astronomy and allow us to glimpse the dedication and commitment that has produced their notable achievements. Their research has yielded new interpretations, discoveries and inventions of international significance, expanding our knowledge of the mysterious universe we live in.

New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson

New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson PDF

Author: Wayne Orchiston

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-11-24

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 3319076140

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This book contains papers from a conference held to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the world’s foremost astronomical historians, Professor F. Richard Stephenson, the latest recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s highest award for research in astronomical history, the LeRoy Doggett Prize. Reflecting Professor Stephenson’s extensive research portfolio, this book brings together under one cover papers on four different areas of scholarship: applied historical astronomy (which Stephenson founded); Islamic astronomy; Oriental astronomy and amateur astronomy. These papers are penned by astronomers from Canada, China, England, France, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Portugal, Thailand and the USA. Its diverse coverage represents a wide cross-section of the history of astronomy community. Under discussion are ways in which recent research using historical data has provided new insights into auroral and solar activity, supernovae and changes in the rotation rate of the Earth. It also presents readers with results of recent research on leading historical figures in Islamic and Oriental astronomy, and aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Australian, British, German and Portuguese amateur astronomy, including the fascinating ‘amateur-turned-professional syndrome’.

Joe Pawsey and the Founding of Australian Radio Astronomy

Joe Pawsey and the Founding of Australian Radio Astronomy PDF

Author: W. M. Goss

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-10

Total Pages: 833

ISBN-13: 3031079167

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This 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.