August 7, 2012

expert reaction to the announcement of Sir Bernard Lovell’s death

Sir Bernard Lovell, who developed the science of radio-astronomy in the UK and was director of Jodrell Bank for 30 years, giving his name to the Lovell Telescope there, died at the age of 98.

Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, said:

“”Bernard Lovell ranks as one of the great visionary leaders of science.

“Along with others of his generation, World War II gave him responsibility and opportunity at an early age. He was thereby encouraged to ‘think big’ when he returned to academic science. He had the boldness and self-confidence to conceive a giant radio telescope, and the persistence to see it through to completion, despite the risk of bankruptcy. It was a huge project by the standards of the 1950s. What is even more remarkable is that, more than 50 years later , this instrument (after several upgrades) is still doing ‘frontier’ science: for instance, it is helping to test Einstein’s theory to a precision 10,000 times better than was possible when it was built, by observing objects called ‘binary pulsars’ that weren’t known to exist until much more recently.

“Jodrell Bank is one of the world’s leading observatories. As its centrepiece, the ‘Lovell Telescope’, as it is now rightly called, continues to probe the cosmic frontiers, though it has also now become as iconic and familiar a part of our heritage as Stonehenge.

“I recall the celebrations of the telescope’s 50th anniversary in 2007. Lovell, though nearly blind, played a full part in the festivities and made a superb speech. He rightly took great pride in this lasting monument. Over his long career he contributed hugely to UK and international science, both at the organizational level, and as an inspiring and eloquent speaker on science and its place in society.”