Arthur Kennelly or Karl Jansky...first radio telescope

"That Time Thomas Edison Almost Invented the Radio Telescope"

by

Ron Miller

September 23rd, 2013

io9

In 1890, Arthur Kennelly, an electrical engineer working for Thomas Edison, wrote a letter to the director of the Lick Observatory. He described an interesting experiment being undertaken by the great inventor that may have been the first radio telescope — forty years before its official invention.

History shows that the first radio telescope was built in 1931 by Karl Jansky, an engineer working for Bell Laboratories, in an effort to discover the source of interference in transmissions. He identified that the origin of the interference was the Milky Way. Five years later, amateur astronomer Grote Reber applied this technique in the first application of a new branch of astronomy that became known as radio astronomy.

Still, there are tantalizing hints that its birth may have come almost 40 years before.

 In his letter about Edison to the director of Lick, Kennelly said "the inventor had turned his mind to solar physics. Along with the electromagnetic disturbances we receive from the Sun," he wrote, "which, of course, you know we recognise as light and heat" Edison had decided that it was "not unreasonable to suppose there will be disturbances of much longer wavelength."

If this were to prove true, Kennelly said, "we might translate them into sound." Edison's plan was to employ a huge mass of iron ore. Around this he would erect a series of wooden poles. From these poles would be a cable consisting of seven carefully insulated wires, the terminals of which would be attached to a telephone or similar apparatus. "It is then possible," Kennelly wrote, "that violent disturbances in the Sun's atmosphere might so disturb either the normal electromagnetic flow of energy we receive, or the normal distribution of magnetic force on this planet, as to bring about an appreciably great change in the flow of magnetic induction embraced by the cable loop."

Edison suspected that such electromagnetic disturbances would be associated with sunspot activity and hoped that Lick Observatory would be able to provide information as to just when these occurred, since Edison and Kennelly would not be able to establish a connection "unless we have positive evidence of coincident disturbances in the corona."

Unfortunately, there is no evidence one way or the other whether Edison ever carried out the experiment. If he had, it probably wouldn't have worked. Edison's proposed apparatus would have been very insensitive, capable of detecting only very long wavelengths—and the ionosphere prevents such long waves from reaching the earth's surface. Ironically, it was Kennelly who went on to co-predict the existence of the Heaviside Layer, which accounted for this effect.

Deceased--Fred Haddock

Fred Haddock
1920 to February 20th, 2009

"University of Michigan pioneer astronomer Fred Haddock dies; he designed radio telescope at Peach Mountain"

by

Jo Mathis

March 3rd, 2009

The Ann Arbor News

Fred Haddock described himself in modest terms.

"I'm just a guy interested in most things," he told an Ann Arbor News reporter in 2000.

But Haddock, a University of Michigan professor emeritus of astronomy, was a pioneer in radio astronomy (he designed U-M's radio telescope at Peach Mountain near Dexter) and an early rocket scientist. He also contributed to the Allies' victory in the Pacific in World War II.

Haddock died of lung cancer Feb. 20 at his Ann Arbor home. He was 89.

While working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., Haddock designed and developed the first submarine periscope radar antenna used extensively in the Pacific to sink Japanese supply and fuel ships.

When the war ended, he turned to astronomy and detected radio emissions for the Orion and other nebulae.

In 1956, Haddock accepted a position at U-M as the founder and director of the Radio Astronomy Observatory at Peach Mountain, off of North Territorial Road, northwest of Dexter.

"He was the person who established radio astronomy in the observatory at Michigan, and was one of the leaders in the field in the '40s and '50s," said U-M Astronomy Professor Hugh Aller, who was a student of Haddock's before joining the faculty.

The 85-foot radio telescope Haddock designed at Peach Mountain was used to make the first radio detection of Mercury, and the first measurement of Saturn. It is still in use today.

Haddock also taught classes in electrical engineering, and - as a rocket scientist - served on numerous NASA and Goddard Space Flight Center committees and panels.

His extensive resume also includes publishing dozens of books and articles and numerous memberships and professional affiliations.

"He was a very impressive guy; a big guy with a booming bass voice, and a quick mind," said Charles R. Cowley, U-M astronomy professor emeritus. "He was extremely knowledgeable in all sorts of different fields; intellectually curious."

He was a member of the Huron Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Haddock is survived by his wife, Deborah Fredericks, sons Thomas and Richard, and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held April 5 at 11 a.m. at the Michigan League on the U-M campus, 911 N. University.