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An Overview of W.N. Christiansen’s Contribution to Australian Radio Astronomy, 1948–1960

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Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region

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Abstract

In 1948, an accomplished industrial physicist who had harboured a long-term ambition to become an astronomer joined the newly-formed Radio Astronomy Group in the CSIR’s Division of Radiophysics in Sydney, Australia. Thus, W.N. (‘Chris’) Christiansen (1913–2007) began a new career in the fledgling field of radio astronomy. This paper reviews Christiansen’s contribution to both instrumentation development and scientific research during the first phase of his career in radio astronomy, covering his work at the Potts Hill and Fleurs field stations prior to his resignation from the Division of Radiophysics in 1960.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One of the authors of this paper (B.S.) working at the Division of Radiophysics throughout the period that Christiansen was there, and was familiar with his work, although he was never a member of the Solar Group. Another author of this paper (W.O.) joined Radiophysics a year after Christiansen had transferred to the University of Sydney, but as a member of the Solar Group, and through operating the Chris Cross, he soon became aware of Christiansen’s seminal role in developing solar radio astronomy between 1948 and 1960.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Kathryn Brennan from the National Archives of Australia for her help in accessing archive, and we also wish to thank the CSIRO’s Division of Astronomy and Space Sciences and John Leahy for supplying images used in this paper.

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  1. Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Harry Wendt

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  1. Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia

    Wayne Orchiston

  2. Higashi-Ikebukuro 2-51-4, Toshima, 170-0013, Japan

    Tsuko Nakamura

  3. ASTRON, P.O. Box 2, AA Dwingeloo, 7990, Netherlands

    Richard G. Strom

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Wendt, H., Orchiston, W., Slee, B. (2011). An Overview of W.N. Christiansen’s Contribution to Australian Radio Astronomy, 1948–1960. In: Orchiston, W., Nakamura, T., Strom, R. (eds) Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8161-5_21

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