I remember him from my youth; had no idea he was still living. Radio Astronomy does not seem to get the attention of optical. Been down to the American Radio Astronomy center in West Virginia a couple of times; chosen for being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains. One of the telescopes there, or a very similar one, was featured in the latest X Men film. They also have one of the first functioning radio telescopes; built in his backyard by an American engineer with a very unlikely name; Gerd Reber is as close as memory will get. Also a reproduction of what is suppose to be the very first radio telescope; it revolved on a wood track riding on Model T Ford rims if I remember correctly. Just think, Sir Bernard's career encompassed this whole era, from primitive beginnings to todays amazing technology.

Grote Reber actually; the reproduction is of Karl Jansky's telescope dating from 1937, Reber's was from a few years later; Sir Bernard started only a little later than that. I was reading of his activities in Sky and Telescope magazine in the middle 50s; he and his observatory were already the Mecca of Radio Astronomy.

Another good obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2...is-name.html?ref=science

Edited by user 09 August 2012 04:50:33(UTC)  | Reason: added material