The Contribution of the Division of Radiophysics Potts Hill Field Station to International Radio Astronomy

Wendt, Harry; Orchiston, Wayne; Slee, Bruce

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8161-5_16

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Together they observed a Type II burst with a (first and second) harmonic structure [203]. A corner of the West Pennant Hills' orchard belonging to John Murray's father, known as Rosebank, was later to become the Murraybank Field Station [204] after increasing radio noise levels at Potts Hill [205,206] required them to move their receivers further out of Sydney [207]. 53 Bracewell is not the only astronomer from this era to have links with the medical profession.…”

Section: -1955mentioning

confidence: 99%

History of Astronomy in Australia: Big-Impact Astronomy from World War II until the Lunar Landing (1945–1969)

Graham

Kenyon

Bull³

et al. 2021

Galaxies

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Radio astronomy commenced in earnest after World War II, with Australia keenly engaged through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. At this juncture, Australia’s Commonwealth Solar Observatory expanded its portfolio from primarily studying solar phenomena to conducting stellar and extragalactic research. Subsequently, in the 1950s and 1960s, astronomy gradually became taught and researched in Australian universities. However, most scientific publications from this era of growth and discovery have no country of affiliation in their header information, making it hard to find the Australian astronomy articles from this period. In 2014, we used the then-new Astrophysics Data System (ADS) tool Bumblebee to overcome this challenge and track down the Australian-led astronomy papers published during the quarter of a century after World War II, from 1945 until the lunar landing in 1969. This required knowledge of the research centres and facilities operating at the time, which are briefly summarised herein. Based on citation counts—an objective, universally-used measure of scientific impact—we report on the Australian astronomy articles which had the biggest impact. We have identified the top-ten most-cited papers, and thus also their area of research, from five consecutive time-intervals across that blossoming quarter-century of astronomy. Moreover, we have invested a substantial amount of time researching and providing a small tribute to each of the 62 scientists involved, including several trail-blazing women. Furthermore, we provide an extensive list of references and point out many interesting historical connections and anecdotes.

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Section: -1955mentioning

confidence: 99%

History of Astronomy in Australia: Big-Impact Astronomy from World War II until the Lunar Landing (1945–1969)

Graham

Kenyon

Bull³

et al. 2021

Galaxies

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“…After making important contributions to solar, Galactic and extragalactic radio astronomy, the Potts Hill field station closed in 1963, when the remaining Galactic and extragalactic programs were transferred to Parkes. For detailed histories of the Potts Hill field station see Wendt (2008) and Wendt et al (2008bWendt et al ( , 2008cWendt et al ( , 2011a.…”

Section: Potts Hillmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontier Life at the Field Stations

Orchiston

Robertson

Sullivan

2021

Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy

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Between October 1945 and March 1946 Radiophysics staff took advantage of the facilities at radar stations located at Collaroy Plateau and Dover Heights in suburban Sydney to follow up the British and New Zealand solar observations mentioned earlier, and this effectively marked the launch of radio astronomy in Australia. The equipment used at these field stations included radar antennas connected to 200 MHz receivers. In 1947 Ruby Payne-Scott (1912–1981) described the Royal Australian Air Force Radar 54 antenna at Collaroy as a

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“…Further details of the 'hole-in-the-ground' research are presented in Orchiston and Slee (2002). For reviews of the various 'source surveys' conducted at Dover Heights and Potts Hill field stations see Orchiston and Robertson (2017) and Wendt et al (2011b), respectively. For a detailed overview of the history of worldwide research on discrete sources up until 1953 see Sullivan (2009).…”

Section: Spherical Nebulamentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding Horizons – The Milky Way and Beyond

Orchiston

Robertson

Sullivan

2021

Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy

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Non-solar research at the Radiophysics Laboratory (RP) was launched in September 1946 when Joe Pawsey (1908–1962) tried unsuccessfully to observe the enigmatic ‘radio star’ in Cygnus that the British team of Stanley Hey (1909–2000, Fig. 4.1), John Parsons and James Phillips (1946) had announced in the 17 August issue of Nature. Two months later, John Bolton (1922–1993; Fig. 4.2) and research assistant Bruce Slee (1924–2016) were at Dover Heights trying to observe the Sun at 60 MHz. When it insisted on remaining inactive they decided to use their 2-Yagi antenna in sea interferometer mode to search for radio emission from other types of objects. Neither had a background in astronomy, and their astronomical knowledge and resources were virtually non-existent. Bolton (1982: 349) later described how they used the Russell, Duggan and Stewart book Astronomy to “… hazard guesses as to which types of objects might emit copious amounts of radio emission …” and Norton’s Star Atlas “… to find the position of the brightest candidate in each class.”

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The Contribution of the Division of Radiophysics Potts Hill Field Station to International Radio Astronomy

Cited by 17 publications

References 98 publications

History of Astronomy in Australia: Big-Impact Astronomy from World War II until the Lunar Landing (1945–1969)

History of Astronomy in Australia: Big-Impact Astronomy from World War II until the Lunar Landing (1945–1969)

Frontier Life at the Field Stations

Expanding Horizons – The Milky Way and Beyond

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