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Sir Bernard Lovell)
Sir Bernard Lovell (born 1913) is a British radio astronomer, director (until 1981) of the Jodrell Bank Observatory.
Born in Oldland Common , Gloucestershire, he studied physics at the University of Bristol, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1936. He worked in the cosmic ray research team at the University of Manchester until the outbreak of World War II, during which he developed radar systems to be installed in aircraft, for which he received an OBE in 1946.
He attempted to continue cosmic ray work with an ex-military radar unit and following interference from trams on Manchester's Oxford Road moved to Jodrell Bank, near Macclesfield, an outpost of the university's botany department. He was able to show that radar echoes could be obtained from daytime meteor showers. With university funding he constructed the then largest steerable radiotelescope in the world, which now bears his name. On completion in 1957 it was used to track the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I.
He was knighted in 1961 for his important contributions to the development of radio astronomy.
He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1981.
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