Brain Drain: Trip to US and Canada 1957–1959

Abstract

AbstractLetter from Pawsey to his mother, from Princeton end 1957:Pawsey’s 8½-month visit to the US in 1957–1958 occurred during a key period of the GRT deliberations (FFP design study completion at the end of 1957 and the site selection in early 1958). It also occurred in the context of shifts in relations within RPL and in the field of radio astronomy as it grew around the world. There was growing awareness in Australia about the increasing capacity, especially in the USA, to attract first-rate scientists overseas to lead the new research programs being established. Meanwhile, at RPL, Bowen’s frustrations with Pawsey were growing to such a degree that Pawsey was beginning to feel some disquiet about his position in CSIRO. An important outcome of Pawsey’s visit to the US was an unofficial “audition” for a leadership role in US radio astronomy. At this point Pawsey would realise that he would have more to offer a US community with its multiple new radio astronomy groups (similar to the multiple groups he had nurtured in the beginning of radio astronomy research in Australia), than the Australian groups which had become strong and less dependent on his leadership. Pawsey’s scientific interactions during this time were also important as he planned for the Paris Symposium of August 1958 in his role as chair of the IAU organising committee.