Karl Guthe Jansky
Karl Guthe Jansky (born October 22, 1905 in Norman , Oklahoma , † February 14, 1950 in Red Bank , New Jersey ) was an American physicist and radio engineer. He became the founder of radio astronomy when he discovered in 1932 that the Milky Way was emitting radio waves.
Life
Jansky studied at the University of Wisconsin until 1927 . From 1928 he worked at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel , New Jersey.
After months of research, he discovered in 1931 that the source of previously unidentified radio interference was of stellar origin. In 1932 he was able to determine the direction: the signals came from the constellation Sagittarius . According to Harlow Shapley and Jan Hendrik Oort, there was the center of our Milky Way (see Sagittarius A * ).
Honors
In honor of Jansky , the Jansky was introduced for measurements in radio astronomy , a unit for the spectral flux density adapted to extremely weak signals .
In addition, the moon crater Jansky and the main belt asteroid (1932) Jansky were named after him. In 2012, he became the namesake of the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico.
The Karl G. Jansky Lecture of the NRAO is named in his honor.
Web links
- General introduction to the history of radio astronomy . Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
- Karl Jansky and the Discovery of Cosmic Radio Waves . National Radio Astronomy Observatory (English)
- Jansky, Karl Guthe (1905–1950) . daviddarling.info (English) accessed on June 23, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl G. Jansky: Radio Waves from Outside the Solar System . In: Nature , Volume 132, Issue 3323, p. 66 (1933), bibcode : 1933Natur . 132 ... 66J .
- ^ CM Jansky: My Brother Karl Jansky and His Discovery of Radio Waves from Beyond the Earth . bigear.org; Retrieved June 23, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jansky, Karl Guthe |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American physicist and radio engineer, who discovered in 1932 that the Milky Way emits radio radiation |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 22, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Norman , Oklahoma |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 14, 1950 |
| Place of death | Red Bank , New Jersey |