Historical & Cultural Astronomy
2 total works
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.
Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy
by Wayne Orchiston, Peter Robertson, and Woodruff T. Sullivan, III
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.