This is a timeline of Jodrell Bank Observatory.
1930s
1940s
1950s
- 1950, August â The transit telescope is used to make the first detection of radio waves from the nearby Andromeda Galaxy.
- 1950 â Charles Husband presents first drawings of the proposed giant, fully steerable radio telescope.
- 1952, September â Construction of the Mark I telescope begins.
- 1957, October â The Mark I telescope becomes operational. It tracks the carrier rocket of Sputnik 1; the only telescope in the West able to do so.
1960s
- 1960, May â Lord Nuffield pays the remaining debt on the Mark I and the observatory is renamed the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories.
- 1962 â As part of a radio-linked interferometer, the Mark I identifies a new class of compact radio sources, later recognised as quasars.
- 1962 â Jodrell Bank radio telescope is mentioned in the science fiction novel A for Andromeda by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot.
- 1964 â The Mark II telescope is completed.
- 1966 â The Mark I receives pictures from Luna 9, the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon.
- 1966 â The Mark III telescope is completed.
- 1968 â The Mark I confirms the existence of pulsars.
- 1968 â The Mark I took part in the first transatlantic VLBI experiment in 1968, with other telescopes being those at Algonquin and Penticton in Canada.
- 1969 â The Mark I is used for the first time in a VLBI observation, with the Arecibo radio telescope in 1969.
1970s
- 1970âÂÂ1971 â The Mark I is repaired and upgraded; it is renamed to the Mark IA.
- 1972âÂÂ1973 â The Mark I carries out a survey of radio sources; amongst these sources was the first gravitational lens, which was confirmed optically in 1979.
- 1976, January â storms bring winds of around 90 mph which almost destroy the telescope. Bracing girders are added.
1980s
- 1980 â The Mark IA is used as part of the new MERLIN array.
- 1982 â The 42 ft telescope is built, to replace the 50 ft.
- 1986 â The first pulsar in a globular cluster is discovered.
- 1986 â The Mark II telescope is given a new surface that is accurate to 1/3 mm.
- 1987 â The Mark IA is renamed the Lovell Telescope after Bernard Lovell.
1990s
2000s
- 2000, February â The Lovell Telescope searches for NASA's Mars Polar Lander.
- 2000 â Placebo recorded the video for The Bitter End at Jodrell Bank.
- 2000âÂÂ2002 â The Lovell Telescope is resurfaced, increasing its sensitivity at 5 GHz by a factor of five.
- 2003, December â The Lovell Telescope searches for the Beagle 2 lander on Mars.
- 2004, January â Astronomers from Jodrell Bank, Australia, Italy and the U.S. discover the first known double pulsar.
- 2004 â Minor scenes for the film of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are filmed at Jodrell Bank.
- 2005, February â Astronomers using the Lovell Telescope discovered a galaxy that appears to be made almost entirely of dark matter.
- 2005, March â Jodrell Bank becomes the centre of the World's largest scale model of the Solar System as part of the Spaced Out project.
- 2006, September â Jodrell Bank wins the BBC's online competition to find the UK's greatest "Unsung Landmark".
2010s
References
Books