The Sun and the Ionosphere, 1946–1955

Abstract

AbstractWhen David Martyn wrote to Pawsey in August 1952 to propose his nomination for the Royal Society, Pawsey replied with a formal typed letter that included an obligatory modest paragraph, followed by his own assessment of his achievements. In his own assessment, his main scientific contributions were in solar radio astronomy (which in 1952, he considered the “most fruitful” investigations at RPL, rather than the new found interest in the discrete sources and extra-Galactic observations) and the development of new methods of ionospheric research. We therefore devote this chapter to a brief summary of research and achievements in these areas up to 1955. The first part of the chapter contains a brief overview of the main achievements in solar radio astronomy, led by Paul Wild. Often it is difficult to identify Pawsey’s particular contributions, because, as noted, his leadership style was to visit and discuss observations and analyses, to make comments and propose ways of resolving immediate difficulties, but not to lead the research nor to take authorship for such contributions, However many papers do acknowledge Pawsey’s advice and criticisms in their preparation. The second part contains an overview of Pawsey’s well-crafted but not extensive ionospheric research.