Bernard Lovell
Sir (Alfred Charles) Bernard Lovell (1913–2012), astronomer
1913 Born in Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, a small village seven miles east of Bristol.
1931 Entered the University of Bristol
1934 First-class degree in physics
Studied at Bristol for a PhD under E. T. S. Appleyard.
1936 He was attracted to work with Patrick Blackett, at Birkbeck College, London on cosmic rays, but Blackett offered the job to another person. Lovell joined Bragg's group in Manchester. Six months later, Bragg left Manchester and was succeeded by Blackett, who asked Lovell to study cosmic rays.
1937 Married Mary Joyce Chesterman in Bristol.
1939 Lovell was told (by Blackett?) to work on Chain Home where he trained the operators, and also observed unknown echoes which he thought might have come from cosmic ray air showers.
WWII Primarily concerned with H2S Radar, to aid bombers targeting Germany and for attacking shipping. Lovell learned about the design of aerials during his development of high-resolution parabolic dishes.
1946 Appointed OBE.
Post-WWII Lovell returned to Manchester University as a lecturer and began to investigate the strange radar echoes that he had seen in 1939. Through contact with a former Manchester student, service colleague, and fellow radio-astronomer, James Hey, he borrowed a gun-laying radar from the Army Operational Research Group and erected it at the university's physics department. Electrical interference from the city, especially the trams, was too great, and he moved the equipment twenty miles to Jodrell Bank, where the university had an outstation for its botanical department. With the help of an army team supplied by Hey, Lovell assembled the equipment and immediately detected atmospheric radar echoes, but too many to be caused by air showers. With the help of Manning Prentice, he established that the echoes were caused by meteors.
1946 Lovell, Prentice and Hey gave three linked talks to the Royal Astronomical Society on 13 December which established the field of radio astronomy.
Lovell began to build a radio astronomy observatory at Jodrell Bank. He accumulated radar dishes, transmitters and receivers, searchlights and diesel generators — a million pounds worth of war-surplus material but acquired for very little.
Built Jodrell Bank's first large radio telescope, a dish mounted on the ground with a diameter of 218 feet, its receiver mounted on a 126-foot high pole at the centre. This was used to observe signals from the another galaxy for the first time.
1950 Lovell promoted the idea of a large, fully steerable radio telescope. He engaged a structural engineer, H. C. Husband, to develop his concept, and applied to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) for a grant for the detailed design of the telescope. With Husband he procured the gun-turret racks from the battleships HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Revenge, which were being broken up. They were incorporated into the design of the bearings to be used to drive the telescope in elevation.
1952 Awarded £335,000 to be spent over two and a half years to build the telescope, a huge part of the DSIR's funds available for research grants.
The project grew more complex and more expensive. Government auditors criticised what was perceived as poor management of the project. The project was investigated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Commons.
By the summer of 1957, the telescope was structurally complete and moveable (by hand). In the face of critical press treatment, the relationship between Lovell and Husband worsened when Husband threatened to sue Lovell for a million pounds.
1957 Lovell was saved by a 'miraculous occurrence' on 4 October, when the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched by the Soviet Union. The telescope drive system was rushed to completion, the satellite was tracked and an improvised radar system was used to locate the launching rocket, which had followed the Sputnik into orbit. The technical achievement was acclaimed as a national triumph with defence significance. DSIR wrote to Parliament with an explanatory memorandum from Husband about the management of the project and erroneous evidence was withdrawn.
The outstanding debt of £130,000 was cleared by a public appeal and by a donation of about half this sum from the philanthropist William Morris, leading to creation of the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories at Jodrell Bank. Lovell was named as the first holder of a chair of radio astronomy created at Manchester University.
A secret agreement was made between Jodrell Bank and the American air force to track spacecraft sent to the moon, an unsuccessful project known as Project Able.
1959 The USSR's Luna 2 spacecraft was sent to the moon, tracked by the Mark 1 telescope. A few months later, Luna 3 transmitted the first pictures from the far side of the moon. At Soviet request, the data was recorded by the Mark 1 telescope and sent on tape to the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
1960 Awarded the royal medal of the Royal Society
1961 Knighted.
1964 The Mark 2 telescope was commissioned to work higher radio frequencies than the Mark 1.
1966 The Mark 3 telescope was also built at Wardle, near Nantwich.
Received the Churchill Award from The Society of Engineers for his work in Radio Astronomy. [1]
1965-70 Lovell chaired the astronomy space and radio board of the Science Research Council
1969 Appointed president of the Royal Astronomical Society
1980 Retired from his chair at Manchester
2012 Died in Cheshire
See Also
Sources of Information
- Biography of Sir Bernard Lovell, ODNB