Bernard Lovell

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Sir Bernard Lovell

Image credit: Jodrell Bank, University of Manchester
Born August 31, 1913 (1913-08-31) (age 94)
Oldland Common, Bristol, England
Occupation Radio astronomer

Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell - better known as Sir Bernard Lovell OBE PhD FRS (born 31 August 1913 [1]) is a British physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first Director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980.

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[edit] Career

Born in Oldland Common, Bristol, he studied physics at the University of Bristol, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1936. He worked in the cosmic ray research team at the University of Manchester until the outbreak of World War II, during which he worked for the TRE developing radar systems to be installed in aircraft, for which he received an OBE in 1946.

He attempted to continue cosmic ray work with an ex-military radar unit and following interference from trams on Manchester's Oxford Road moved to Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey in Cheshire, an outpost of the university's botany department. He was able to show that radar echoes could be obtained from daytime meteor showers. With university funding he constructed the then-largest steerable radio telescope in the world, which now bears his name - the Lovell Telescope. Nearly 50 years later, it remains one of the foremost radio telescopes in the world.

He was knighted in 1961 for his important contributions to the development of radio astronomy, and has a secondary school named after him in Oldland Common, Bristol, which Sir Bernard Lovell officially opened.[2] A building on the QinetiQ site in Malvern is also named after him.

The first name of the fictional scientist Bernard Quatermass, the hero of several BBC Television science-fiction serials of the 1950s, was chosen in honour of Lovell.[3]

[edit] Awards

[edit] Bibliography

  • Lovell, Bernard (1952). Radio astronomy. Chapman & Hall. 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1954). Meteor astronomy (International series of monographs on physics). Clarendon P. 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1959). The Individual and the Universe. Oxford University Press. ISBN B0000CK81E (original) ISBN 0-19-286001-1 (paperback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1962). The exploration of outer space. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217618-8 (hardcover). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1962). Exploration of Space by Radio. Chap. & H. ISBN 0-412-06020-5 (hardcover). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1963). Discovering the universe. Benn. 
  • Lovell, Bernard; T. Margerison (editors) (1967). Explosion of Science: Physical Universe. Thames & Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0-500-01038-2 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1967). Our Present Knowledge of the Universe. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0314-8 (hardback) ISBN 0-7190-0313-X (paperback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1967). The explosion of science: The physical universe. Thames & Hudson. 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1968). Story of Jodrell Bank. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217619-6 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (Editor) (1970). Royal Institution Library of Science: Discourses, 1851-1939: Astronomy. Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-20102-5 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1973). The Origins and International Economics of Space Exploration. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-85224-256-5 (hardback) ISBN 0-470-54851-7. 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1973). Out of the Zenith: Jodrell Bank, 1957-70. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217624-2 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1975). Man's Relation to the Universe. W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-7167-0356-4 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1976). P.M.S.Blackett: A Biographical Memoir. The Royal Society. ISBN 0-85403-077-8 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1979). In the Centre of Immensities. Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-136780-8 (hardback) ISBN 0-586-08362-6 (paperback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1980). Emerging Cosmology: Convergence. Greenwood Press. ISBN 1-58348-113-3 (paperback reprint) ISBN 0-03-001009-8 (paperback) ISBN 0-275-91790-8 (paperback) ISBN 0-448-15517-6 (hardback) ISBN 0-231-05304-5 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1985). The Jodrell Bank Telescopes. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-858178-5 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1987). Voice of the Universe: Building the Jodrell Bank Telescope. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-275-92678-8 (hardback) ISBN 0-275-92679-6 (paperback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard; Francis Graham-Smith (1988). Pathways to the Universe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-32004-6 (hardcover). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1990). Astronomer by Chance. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00512-8 (hardback) ISBN 0-19-282949-1 (paperback) ISBN 0-333-55195-8 (hardback reprint). 
  • Lovell, Bernard (1991). Echoes of War: The Story of H2S Radar. Adam Hilger. ISBN 0-85274-317-3 (hardback). 
  • Lovell, Bernard; Guy Hartcup (2000). The Effect of Science on the Second World War. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-67061-2 (hardback) ISBN 1-4039-0643-2 (paperback). 

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ GRO Register of Births: DEC 1913 5c 885 KEYNSHAM - Alfred CB Lovell, mmn = Adams
  2. ^ Sir Bernard Lovell School in Oldland Common. Retrieved on 2006-11-22.
  3. ^ Murray, Andy (2006). Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (paperback), London: Headpress, p. 28. ISBN 1-900486-50-4. 

[edit] References

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