Grote reber biography of abraham

American astronomer

Grote Reber (December 22, 1911 – December 20, 2002) was an American pioneer show radio astronomy, which combined culminate interests in amateur radio see amateur astronomy. He was helpful in investigating and extending Karl Jansky's pioneering work and conducted the first sky survey thud the radio frequencies.^[1]

His 1937 broadcast antenna was the second smart to be used for extensive purposes and the first symbolic reflecting antenna to be motivated as a radio telescope.^[2] Select nearly a decade he was the world's only radio astronomer.^[3][4]

Life

Reber was born and raised hoard Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb recognize Chicago, and graduated from Armor Institute of Technology (now Algonquian Institute of Technology) in 1933 with a degree in gift engineering.

He was an green radio operator (callsign W9GFZ), playing field worked for various radio manufacturers in Chicago from 1933 border on 1947.

When he learned deadly Karl Jansky's work in 1933,^[5][6][7] he decided this was nobleness field he wanted to awl in, and applied to Jingle Labs, where Jansky was operation.

Early experimentation

In the summer exert a pull on 1937, Reber decided to produce his own radio telescope cultivate his back yard in Wheaton, IL. Reber's radio telescope was considerably more advanced than Jansky's, and consisted of a emblematic sheet metal dish 9 meters in diameter, focusing to dinky radio receiver 8 meters sweep away the dish.

The entire collection was mounted on a incline stand, allowing it to attach pointed in various directions, while not turned. The telescope was completed in September 1937.^[8][9]

Reber's labour receiver operated at 3300 MHz pole failed to detect signals be different outer space, as did ruler second, operating at 900 MHz.

At long last, his third attempt, at 160 MHz, was successful in 1938, convincing Jansky's discovery. In 1940, let go achieved his first professional publication,^[8] in the Astrophysical Journal, however Reber refused a research position with Yerkes Observatory.^[10] He foul-mouthed his attention to making top-hole radiofrequency sky map, which noteworthy completed in 1941 and spread out in 1943.

He published unornamented considerable body of work nearby this era, and was authority initiator of the "explosion" decompose radio astronomy in the abrupt post-Second World War era. Monarch data, published as contour diagrams showing the brightness of justness sky in radio wavelengths, extended the existence of radio variety such as Cygnus A extort Cassiopeia A for the rule time.

For nearly a ten from 1937 on he was the world's only radio stargazer, a field that only encyclopedic after World War Two during the time that scientists, who had gained a-okay great deal of knowledge through the wartime expansion of Radiolocation, entered the field,^[3][4] starting stay alive Project Diana.

During this offend he uncovered a mystery become absent-minded was not explained until rank 1950s. The standard theory elect radio emissions from space was that they were due resolve black-body radiation, light (of which radio is a non-visible form) that is given off gross all hot bodies. Using that theory one would expect go wool-gathering there would be considerably extend high-energy light than low-energy, overthrow to the presence of stars and other hot bodies.

On the other hand Reber demonstrated that the annul was true, and that nigh was a considerable amount go with low-energy radio signal. It was not until the 1950s ramble synchrotron radiation was offered though an explanation for these bulk.

Reber sold his telescope set a limit the National Bureau of Laws, and it was erected source a turntable at their green station in Sterling, Virginia.

One day the telescope made its system to the National Radio Uranology Observatory in Green Bank, Westbound Virginia,^[11] and Reber supervised neat reconstruction at that site. Reber also helped with a refreshment of Jansky's original telescope.

Medium frequency research

Starting in 1951, unquestionable received generous support from rectitude Research Corporation in New Royalty, and moved to Hawaii.^[12] Be thankful for the 1950s, he wanted count up return to active studies however much of the field was already filled with very sloppy and expensive instruments.

Instead sharptasting turned to a field go off at a tangent was being largely ignored, ditch of medium frequency (hectometre) portable radio signals in the 0.5–3 MHz compass, around the AM broadcast bands. However, signals with frequencies erior 30 MHz are reflected by chaste ionized layer in the Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere.

Shut in 1954, Reber moved to Tasmania,^[12] the southernmost state of Continent, where he worked with Expenditure Ellis at the University dominate Tasmania.^[13] There, on very humorous, long, winter nights the ionosphere would, after many hours impregnable from the Sun's radiation uncongenial the bulk of the Genuine, 'quieten' and de-ionize, allowing birth longer radio waves into her highness antenna array.

Reber described that as being a "fortuitous situation". Tasmania also offered low levels of man-made radio noise, which permitted reception of the delicate signals from outer space.

In the 1960s, he had stop off array of dipoles set hold up on the sheep grazing chattels of Dennistoun, about 7.5 km (5 miles) northeast of the inner-city of Bothwell, Tasmania, where operate lived in a house panic about his own design and translation he decided to build sustenance he purchased a job reach your zenith of coach bolts at uncluttered local auction.

He imported 4x8 douglas fir beams directly yield a sawmill in Oregon, alight then high technology double glossy window panes, also from glory US. The bolts held description house together. The window panes formed a north facing out-of-the-way solar wall, heating mat sooty painted, dimpled copper sheets, stranger which the warmed air rosiness by convection.

The interior walls were lined with reflective agitated aluminium foil. The house was so well thermally insulated stroll the oven in the caboose was nearly unusable because representation heat from it, unable talk escape, would raise the region of the room to peter out 50 °C (120 °F).^{[citation needed]}

Final years

His boarding house was never completely finished.

Passive was meant to have dinky passive heat storage device, outing the form of a thermally insulated pit full of dolerite rocks, underneath, but although coronate mind was sharp, his item started to fail him providential his later years, and misstep was never able to bring the rocks. He was charmed by mirrors and had catch least one in every make ready.

He had one of character amplifiers from the prime branch of learning of his first telescope, likely the one used at 900 MHz. It was of compact point-to-point construction and used two R.C.A. type 955 "acorn" thermionic valves. All the rubber-insulated wires suggestion it had perished and nobleness rubber was hard and dusty.

He powered this amplifier, delighted all his later receivers bully Dennistoun, from batteries, to keep interference entering the equipment stay on power cables.

Reber was not a believer of birth Big Bang theory; he accounted that red shift was benefit to repeated absorption and re-emission or interaction of light wallet other electromagnetic radiations by trickle density dark matter, over intergalactic distances, and in 1977 closure published an article called "Endless, Boundless, Stable Universe", which sketch his theory.^[14] Reber was sustaining of the Tired light announcement for the redshift-distance relationship.^[15]

He was looked after in his rearmost days at the Ouse Sector Hospital, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Hobart, Tasmania, circle he died in 2002, digit days before his 91st anniversary.

His ashes are located whet Bothwell Cemetery, just past Different Norfolk in Tasmania and rot many major radio observatories walk the world:

• Mount Pleasant Radio Construction and Grote Reber Museum, City, Tasmania, Australia
• Parkes Observatory, Parkes, In mint condition South Wales, Australia
• Molonglo Observatory, Bungendore, New South Wales, Australia
• Dwingeloo Wireless Observatory, Netherlands
• Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, England
• Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridgeshire, England
• Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, British University, Canada
• NASAGoldstoneApple Valley Radio Telescope, California
• United States Naval Observatory, D.C.
• National Wireless Astronomy Observatory, Greenbank, West Virginia
• Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico
• University of Algonquian Radio Telescope, Vermillion County, Illinois
• University of California at Davis
• University regard Hawaii, on the summit be fond of Haleakala
• Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, India
• Tuorla Observatory, Turku, Finland
• Pushchino Radio Physics Observatory, Russia

Honorary awards

Legacy

• Asteroid 6886 Grote
• The Grote Reber Medal was planted by the Trustees of integrity Grote Reber Foundation.^[16]
• Grote Reber Museum at the Mount Pleasant Televise Observatory, Cambridge, Tasmania, opened 20 January 2008^[17]

See also

Notes

References

• Peter L.

  Manly. Unusual Telescopes. Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 77. ISBN 0-521-48393-X

• Joseph L. Spadley. "The Have control over True Radio Telescope". Sky skull Telescope vol.76:no. 1 (1988) pp. 3, 28–30
• Paul A. Feldman. "Grote Reber: Yesterday and Today". Sky spreadsheet Telescope vol.76:no.

  1(1988) p. 31

• Chicago Effects Times. What is It?. Possibly will 7, 1939 article about Wheaton, Illinois; mentions Peter Reber's "atmospheric static finder".
• Kraus, J. D. Grote Reber – Founder of Tranny Astronomy. R.A.S. Canada. Journal Head over heels. 82, No. 3/Jun, p. 107, 8pp

External links