2010 Grote Reber Medal Awarded to Alan Rogers

The 2010 Grote Reber Gold Medal for outstanding and innovative contributions to radio astronomy has been awarded to Dr. Alan Rogers, who is a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory. Rogers is being honored for his many pioneering developments in radio and radar interferometry, radio spectroscopy, and for his application of radio astronomy techniques to society.

Rogers received his B.Sc. degree in mathematics and physics from the University College of Rhodesia in 1962, and his S.M. and Ph.D degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1964 and 1967 respectively. Following a year as a Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in 1968, he has since been at the Haystack Observatory where he was the Associate Director until his retirement in 2006.

Rogers is best known for his contributions over many decades to the techniques of very long baseline interferometry. More recently, he developed an innovative radio array which he successfully used to detect the 327 MHz line of interstellar deuterium, capping a 40-year quest for this important astrophysical atomic gas. Currently, Rogers is searching for the low frequency signature characteristic of the cosmic epoch of reionization using a digital spectrometer and a compact broadband dipole. He was also the leader of a program to apply radio astronomy techniques to locate emergency calls from mobile telephones.

“Alan Rogers not only changed the course of radio astronomy but, unlike most research scientists, he devoted considerable time and his unique skills to making life a bit safer for all of us”, said Dr Ken Kellermann of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the USA.

Rogers is currently running a program to monitor atmospheric ozone using inexpensive consumer satellite TV low noise amplifiers and dishes.

“Alan Rogers has made fundamental contributions to the technology of radio astronomy ever since the earliest days of VLBI back in the 1960s”, said Dr David Jauncey of the Australia Telescope National Facility in Australia. “His work on deuterium will significantly influence future astronomy for many years in the lead-up to the Square Kilometre Array”, Jauncey added.

The 2010 Reber Medal will be presented to Alan Rogers in July 2010 in Hobart, Tasmania, at the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia. The Reber Medal was established by the Trustees of the Grote Reber Foundation to honor the achievements of Grote Reber and is administered by the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston, Tasmania. Nominations for the 2011 Medal may be sent to Martin George, Queen Victoria Museum, Wellington St, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia or by e-mail to: martin@qvmag.tas.gov.au to be received no later than October 15, 2010.

Images associated with this release are available at http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/reber.html

They may be used freely provided that the appropriate credit is used (the photograph of Alan Rogers is to be credited to Alan Rogers).

For more information including higher resolution versions of images please contact Martin George (see above).

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About Grote Reber

Grote Reber was born on 22 December 1911. Before he was 30 years of age, he became the world’s first radio astronomer. He opened up a whole new window on the Universe through which astronomers can study objects and processes quite different to those that produce ordinary light. These include quasars and pulsars, and the detection of atoms and molecules in the space between the stars.

Before the 1930s, astronomers could study the universe only in visible light ? the radiation that our eyes, and ordinary photographic film, can detect. That changed in two major steps. In the early 1930s, Karl Jansky investigated radio interference in transatlantic telephone links and, in the process, discovered radio emissions from our Milky Way Galaxy. It was Grote Reber, however, who decided that this was an important new way of studying the Universe and decided to take some action. He said, “I consulted with myself and decided to build a dish.”

To this end, Reber, in 1937, constructed the world’s first purpose-built radio telescope. He built it adjacent to his home in Wheaton, Illinois, just west of Chicago, and it was of the now familiar ‘dish’ design. Reber’s telescope was the forerunner of the classic design of the world’s famous radio telescopes (including the famous ‘dish’ at Parkes, in Australia). The same principle is used widely today in many other applications, including satellite dishes in private homes.

Reber used his telescope, which had a diameter of 9.75 metres (32 feet), to map the sky at a frequency of 160 MHz, a wavelength of 1.9 metres. This was the first detailed radio map of the sky. It showed the Milky Way, and revealed for the first time the presence of the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius, and the radio source known as Cassiopeia A.

“His work was a huge step forward for astronomy”, said Martin George, former President of the International Planetarium Society and Administrator of the Grote Reber Medal. “For the first time, the Universe was being studied at wavelengths other than those visible to our eyes”, he added.

After leaving Wheaton in the early 1950s, Reber conducted radio astronomy experiments at the summit of Mount Haleakala, where he was the first astronomer to build a high-altitude observatory in Hawaii. Then, in 1954, he moved to Tasmania, Australia, where he began observing at very much longer wavelengths using a quite different type of ‘telescope’: an array of dipoles, which took the form of antennas strung between the tops of poles.

North of his home in Bothwell, in southern central Tasmania, Reber constructed such an array which was supported 20 metres above the ground and operated at a frequency of 2.08 MHz, a wavelength of 144 metres. This very low frequency radio telescope covered an area of one square kilometre. Although now dismantled, in terms of collecting area it still holds the record for the world’s largest single radio telescope ever constructed. In the 1960s, Reber mapped the southern sky with this telescope.

Reber involved himself in many other scientific pursuits. Among his activities, he built an energy-efficient house in Bothwell; he was fascinated by plants, and in particular the direction in which beans entwined themselves around poles; and he was particularly keen on studying energy-efficient transport, being very proud of his electric car called Pixie.

Reber was well known for his independent thoughts and activities.

“Grote had very strong convictions and didn’t care what ‘self-appointed pundits thought’. He knew what he wanted, and usually got what he wanted. He once pointed out that he would put his hearing aid in his good ear, so it would shut out the noise”, said Dr Ken Kellermann.
Reber’s views on various topics included his opposition to the widely accepted Big Bang Theory of the origin of the Universe. “Grote and I would often chat about his ideas”, recalls Martin George. “He was often heard to say that The Big Bang is Bunk!”

Although Reber’s research and ideas often fell outside the mainstream activities of other astronomers, his contributions, especially in the early days of radio astronomy, were both pioneering and critically important. He was awarded a number of prizes — including the 1962 Bruce Medal — and an honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Ohio State University in the USA.

“Grote Reber’s achievements showed, most importantly, that one person can make a difference”, said Dr David Jauncey.

Grote Reber died in Tasmania on 20 December 2002, two days before his 91st birthday.