A New Window on the Universe

Abstract

AbstractIn April 1933, at a small gathering at a meeting of the US National Committee of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), Bell Labs scientist Karl Guthe Jansky announced that he had detected 20.5 MHz (14.6 m) radio emission from the Milky Way. Jansky used a novel directional antenna based on an invention by AT&T Bell Labs colleague, Edmond Bruce, that rotated every 20 minutes to determine the direction and source of the interfering noise that was plaguing the telephone company. Jansky’s remarkable discovery of what he called “star noise” was widely publicized in the media, but had little immediate impact in the astronomical community, as astronomers, who typically had little background in electronics or radio, saw no relation to their own work.