User:Erachq

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The European Radio Astronomy Club.

The European Radio Astronomy club or E.R.A.C. abrieviated http://www.eracnet.org is Europes only group coordinating the work of Radio Astronomers to jointly do Radio Science to study the Universe at Radio Wavelengths. It was founded in 1995 By Peter Wright and his wife Angelika who had the idea to write a small Newsletter to the then only 15 strong Radio Astronomy Community in Europe which were up to this date linked only by letters , Today E.R.A.C has over 350 members in 19 different countries with a proportional membership of Profeshionals and Amateurs.

In 1995 a very interesting situation in Europe was to be found, although Groth Reber an American Amateur pioneer was the father of the modern Radio Telescope design, Profeshional Institutes in Europe Frowned upon Amateurs with their back yard Telescopes. Fact is however that in The USA where Amateurs had played such an important role in the Birth of this new Science Amateurs were tightly interwoven in all US Radio Astronomical work. The reason for this may be found in the fact that at the end of the Second world war European Scientists returned to their Universities to use their experience in Radio Engineering to build the Great Radio Telescopes in Europe , as one may imagine a 2 class system arrose of the Big boys and the back garden blokes with tiny equipment. Due to the active none support of the Profeshional community in Europe Amateur Radio Astronomy in Europe was almost none existant till E.R.A.C. was formed . I have heard a very plausable explination for this which is as follows , Scientists were trying to secure the Financing of very large Radio Telescopes and politicaly it was not helpfull to have Amateurs getting also results with home madeback yard Equipment.