The Development of a Theory for Radio Emission

Abstract

AbstractThe discovery of the synchrotron radiation mechanism as the explanation of galactic and extragalactic sources of radio emission marked a major development in radio astronomy, providing much needed coherence to so many unexpected observations from the late 1940s. Through the decade 1948–1958 Joe Pawsey was keenly aware of how hampered his researchers were by the absence of theory—both of mathematical, and of big-picture conceptual, understanding of the phenomena they were observing. This chapter explores the technical and social difficulties that had to be overcome for synchrotron radiation to be understood and accepted as the primary non-thermal emission mechanism in non-solar radio astronomy; it extends, with additional detail and commentary, Sullivan’s discussion of this question.