Peoples Archive is delighted to launch it's Astronomy section with the stories of Sir Bernard Lovell. Sir Bernard talks in great detail about his work on radar during World War II and how he built the telescopes at Jodrell Bank.
Sir Bernard Lovell was born on the 31st of August 1913 in Oldham common, Bristol and attended a local school. He went on to study physics under Arthur Mannering Tyndall at Bristol University, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1936.
On leaving University he went to work on cosmic ray showers with Patrick Blackett at the University of Manchester and he was here until the outbreak of World War II. During the war Sir Bernard worked with the Telecommunications Research Establishment developing the HS2 radar system for night time bombing using the cavity magnetron, he received an OBE for this work in 1946.
When the war was over Sir Bernard returned to Manchester and attempted to continue his work on cosmic ray showers, however he found that there was too much interference from the trams and began to look for a more suitable site for his research. Eventually he found Jodrell Bank, then an outpost of the university's botany department, which, thanks to his work, is now a world famous observatory.
Sir Bernard Lovell was knighted in 1961 for his contribution to the development of radio astronomy.
