from the sun to the cosmos, joseph lade pawsey , founder ... · astronomy by w.m. goss, r.d. ekers...

From the Sun to the Cosmos, Joseph Lade Pawsey , Founder of

Australian Radio AstronomyA book by Miller Goss, Ron Ekers and Claire Hooker

Miller Goss

NRAO

Queenstown, NZ-- 15 September 2016

Innovation and Discovery in Radio Astronomy

A Symposium Celebrating the Career of R.D. Ekers

RonFest 15 September 2016, Queenstown NZ M Goss 1

• For those too young (in 1998!) to have known the war, [this volume] also revealed much about the way young scientists and engineers built upon their wartime work and propelled postwar Australia to the forefront of telecommunications and radio astronomy. Book edited by Roy MacLeod of Sydney University


The Boffins of Botany Bay: Radar at the University of Sydney 1939-1945

Book projects under way

• From the Sun to the Cosmos, Joseph Lade Pawsey, Founder of Australian Radio Astronomy by W.M. Goss, R.D. Ekers and Claire Hooker, 2019 . To date roughly 90,000 words. About ½ complete, no publisher as yet. Marathon session May 2016, The Church in Woodford. Three weeks- lots of visitors: Hastings Pawsey, Peter Shaver, Edward Bowen, Wasim Raja, Claire Hooker’s children, the two additional Ekers’ families from Sydney, and the world famous SN hunter, Rev Bob Evans, the former pastor of this church. Ron has a comprehensive chapter on :”The Development of Aperture Synthesis.” Claire has written a chapter on the unique nature of the formation of a new scientific endeavor in Australia – radio astronomy- in 1945.

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• Four Pillars of Radio Astronomy- Christiansen, Mills, Wild and Bracewell by Bob Frater, W.M. Goss and Harry Wendt, Springer contract, 2017 or 2018. Close to completion

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The Church at Woodford


Bob Evans- master SN expert and former pastor of this former Uniting Church in Australia

Bowen Claire Hooker

Our “spiritual” work room


New Material in the Pawsey project

• National Archives of Australia – post 2014, 150 unclassified files (titles not on line – no finding aides) re Pawsey and Bowen- clue to finding these provided via Rob Birtles, former archivist CSIRO a few years ago and National Archives assistance from Fiona Burn (now retired) . D5/4 series, from 1945 to 1981 to publication no. 2450 . Complete series goes to D5/4/3934 in 1997 (?). The Marie Vickery files

• The “hidden archive “ of Sally Atkinson after her death in late 2012- Found by Ron, Jay and Helen Sim in 2013. MG found the surprising items in Ron’s office in 2014 (5 metres)- biggest find is the original records of Australian radio astronomy from Collaroy (RAAF) from October 1945. In a few cases Sally had taken files out of the system, perhaps to protect Bowen’s legacy. Examples are the Cen A Nature papers of 1962: D5/4/714 and D5/4/727

• The Pawsey family archive in Hastings Pawsey’s house in Sydney- e.g. 189 letters from JLP to his mother in 1931 to 1935 during his period in Cambridge UK


Home Archive-Hasting Pawsey home in

Frenchs Forest


All letters now transcribed by Elizabeth Pawsey

Pawsey- his life

• Born Ararat Victoria Australia May 14, 1908

• His mother was a bearer of maternal ambition

• Died Sydney , 30 November 1962

• University of Melbourne 1926-1929 BSc

• Master of Science 1931

• Given a 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to University of Cambridge – footsteps of E Rutherford- 1935 PhD working on motions of the E layer of the ionosphere with J.A. Ratcliffe and E Rutherford


1931 to 1935 :Joe Pawsey’s life at Cambridge – the ultimate networking experience • Key part of his life was his flat mate and fellow 1851 Exhibition

Cavendish colleague Ted Nicoll from the University of Saskatchewan.

• Later worked together at EMI and Joe married Ted’s sister Lenore in Sept 1935 in the UK . Ted and his family were to play a key role in the life of the Pawsey family

• Very frank about the type of partner he was seeking:

• You see I wanted: (a) Dominion [e.g. Australian, New Zealand, Canada or South Africa] girl, (b) more or less hard up (financial reasons), (c) good looking (aesthetic reasons) and (d) intelligent.


Continued---- whom was he looking for ?

• Firstly I get on best with Dominion people in that our manners are more nearly the same – an apt saying [attributed to a Dr. Murray] expresses it “You do not know whether or not an Englishman would prefer your absence to your presence”.

• Claire Hooker has written (19 July 2016): “He comes across as such a man of his own: not someone emotionally dependent on either parent, and able to be himself alongside them….. Being one's own person is a difficult and impressive task for anyone to accomplish.. They are qualities that predict his managerial style of supporting good people without the need to control them”…..


Cambridge years- Kate Neatby was to become Ted’s wife in 1934- she was from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon


1934 1932 !

Alps in 1932 Nazi Parade Coblenz 1934

Joe’s letters also had some science !



Joe Pawsey

Ted Nicoll

RutherfordJJ ThomsonMassie Oliphant

Ratcliffe, Kapitsa, Chadwick

Blackett, Cockcroft

Anne Davies, Marie Sparshott

Cavendish Lab 1932. 9 current and future Nobel prizes

His career- EMI

• Then E.M.I. research labs for 5 years working on the development of aerials for the new television transmitter at Alexandra Palace. He became a “master of the techniques of antenna design.” The “Pawsey stub” invented

• Then in 1940 he returned to the C.S.I.R. in Sydney after war started in Sept 1939

14RonFest 15 September 2016, Queenstown NZ M Goss

JLP RP starting 1 February 1940

• In Sydney and headed the research team working on radar systems for the Australian military- mainly the R.A.A.F. – the Royal Australian Air Force. Visited NRC in Ottawa, Cambridge and the Rad Lab at MIT in 1941 before Pearl Harbor. The major achievement of JLP was the T/R (transmission/ receive switch). The LW/AW radar – light weight aircraft warning – the major achievement of RP during the war . Also the A 271 L and A272 S band 1.2 m cylindrical paraboloid ,for RAN and range up to 60 km. JLP designed this in 1942. For 4.5 years wrote 70 technical reports.

• First with imported magnetrons, then with

• Australian ones. The S band experience lead to

March 1944 radio astronomy experiment, 20 by

30 cm horn and then 1.2 m parabola


Likely Sept 1942.Collaboration between Worledge of NSW Railways and Flying Officer Bert Israel of the RAAF

Naval 10 cm. transmitter top and receiver bottom

Dover Heights WWII- first aerial for interferometry- 26 Jan 1947 – principles worked out in WWII by John Jaeger in Sydney


Principle of aperture synthesis described in the paper

Pawsey’s role post 1945

• Started many research areas himself- solar corona, solar burst work, stimulated HI research in 1951

• Hired the key people, Payne-Scott, McCready , Mills, Bolton, Wild, Kerr, Christiansen, Swarup, Stanley, Bracewell, Roberts, Slee, Piddington, Mathewson, Robinson, Cooper, Little, Westfold etc Pawsey wanted Mills to be his successor as leader of the group. Formed international connections immediately, for example the new galactic coordinate system from 1955- 1958

• Invented the term ‘ radio astronomy ‘ in early 1948 about same time as Ryle

• Wrote one of the first text books on radio astronomy in 1955 with Ron Bracewell

• The first statement of the principle of aperture synthesis from the 1946 data

• Played a major role in the GRT – discussions with Freeman Fox and Partners and the scientific planning. Met Barnes Wallis for the first time. Played a major role in the realisation in 1958 of the high frequency potential of the GRT. Was in the US and UK several times during the GRT period. Planned a Proposal review system, outside users, “open skies”


Pawsey’s role in the Sgr A confirmation at Dover Heights in 1954


Goss and McGee published a paper in 1996 “The Discovery of the Radio Source Sagittarius A (Sgr A)”. Dick McGee used his log book and notes from 1953-1954 in the National Archives of Australia – C4633/3. And of course his memory of events of 40 years earlier was excellent. As there has been some confusion in the last years as to the relative roles of McGee, Bolton, Minnett, Piddington, Slee, Westfold, and especially Pawsey. I have looked for the first time myself at C4633/3. As expected, McGee’s memory in 1995-1996 was excellent. In our book we will clarify the events with more details. It is a fabulous story and we know many details.

First reliable detection of the galactic nucleus- the 1951 Piddington and Minnett observation at 20 cm

• In 1953-54 the consensus at RP was that the Piddington and MinnettSagittarius source at 20 cm (beam 2.8 deg) was the galactic centre (“ … close to the plane defined by the maximum level of radio emission. It also lies very close the centre of the Galaxy and to the maximum of galactic radiation… The significance of the position may be considerable….” Published 1951 in Australian J Scientific Research


Survey of 1953

• The conversion of the 80 foot hole in the group was carried out during 1953; mid year John Bolton left for Cloud Physics.

• Survey carried out towards the middle of 1953 to end of the year and first by Dick McGee with assistance by Bruce Slee (details of survey reported by Slee, 1994) without John’s participation

• February 1954, Pawsey sent image to Walter Baade in Pasadena • Already end 1951 Baade had suggested this observation to John BoltonBaade reported that he was very exited and passed on the information to Henk van de Hulst and Jan Oort. Both reacted positively. 22 February 1954, JLP suggested to Dick and John that a paper be written: “The subject is of wide interest.” Paper started by Dick, only a passing comment by John who did not participate in the paper writing at all. He did tell Dick to take his name off the paper!


Continued

• Referred by Kerr, Mills, Shain and even Bracewell and Kerr again

• Dick was shaken by all the criticism

• Title changed by Pawsey back to “Observation of the Galactic Nucleus at 400 Ms/s” …

• Dick says he was a “new boy wimp” and added “POSSIBLE” but Pawsey was upset and comprised on “PROBABLE’-

• Published 22 May 1954, Nature

• So Pawsey played a major role- organisation and writing

• Bolton had built the instrument and talked to Baade and withdrew from active participation in the project . Numerous details appear distorted in the version that Bolton told Don

Morton in 1985.


Colleen Gino – Dec 2015- JVLA – The Bracewell Radio Sundial


Ron Bracewell Radio Sundial-JVLA 2013- 21 September 2013


Designer Woody Sullivan

Stuart and Glenda Pawsey- his son and daughter in law from Berkeley, California

John Bolton in characteristic pose Ron is a gnomon


3 September 2016--- open house. JVLA

RonFest 15 September 2016, Queenstown NZ M Goss 25One of the 3 m dishes at the JVLA

Pawsey, Bracewell, Gold, Messel, Bolton, Wild and Denisse, Ratcliffe, Brian Cooper, Bok y Bok, Jim Roberts


These 3 colleagues are in the audience today !


R Ekers

KIK aka KK

Bob Frater-unable to be here in NZ this week

Conclusion

• J.L. Pawsey was certainly a remarkable man, leader and father. Radio astronomy in Australia and the world was heavily influence by his energy and inspiration. He could pick promising colleagues, he was the ultimate “networker” as he made contacts within the astronomy world wide community of astronomers. He played a major role turning “solar noise” and “cosmic noise” into radio astronomy and astronomy in the era 1945 to 1960.

• The foundation of Australian radio astronomy is based on this complex, successful and controversial interplay between E.G. Bowen and J.L. Pawsey.

• There is no doubt that all of us here today have been directly or indirectly influenced by the lives of these and other Australian scientific pioneers.


from the sun to the cosmos, joseph lade pawsey , founder ... · astronomy by w.m. goss, r.d. ekers...

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