A reader points me to the news that Grote Reber, a ham radio operator and amateur astronomer, has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his invention of the radio telescope:
- Grote Reber Inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame – Susquehanna Astronomical Society
- Invent Now | Hall of Fame | Induction | 2013 Inductees
From the induction description:
Grote Reber (1911 – 2002)
Navigational Instrument
Patent No. 2,519,603
Radio telescopeReber, a pioneering radio astronomer, built the first substantial radio telescope dedicated to astronomy. Radio astronomy allows for the detection of objects and phenomena not possible with optical astronomy, utilizing a radio receiver that can amplify faint cosmic signals, making the waves strong enough to be recorded and charted.
More about Grote from the History of Radio Astronomy | Susquehanna Astronomical Society:
[…] the U.S. Radio Engineer and Amateur Radio Operator, Grote Reber (W8GFZ) (b.1911-d.2002) built the first radio telescope at his home in Wheaton, Illinois. His design was considerably more advanced than Jansky’s, consisting of a parabolic sheet metal mirror 9 meters in diameter, focusing to a radio receiver 8 meters above the mirror. The entire assembly was mounted on a tilting stand allowing it to be pointed in various directions, although not turned. The telescope was completed in 1937.
Reber’s first receiver operated at 3300 MHz and failed to detect signals from outer space, as did his second, operating at 900 MHz. Finally his third attempt at 160 MHz was successful in 1938, confirming Jansky’s discovery. He found that the radio radiation came from all along the plane of the Milky Way and from the Sun. Reber turned his attention to making a radio-frequency sky map, which he completed in 1941 and extended in 1943.
Reber later donated his telescope to the NRAO in Green Bank, West Virginia, and helped supervise its re-construction at that site. The telescope was then mounted on a turntable, allowing it to be pointed in any direction. Reber helped with a reconstruction of Jansky’s original telescope as well.