Sir Bernard Lovell RIP

Bernard Lovell, the astronomer and physicist, and the founder of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, has died at the age of 98.

Lovell 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 worked for the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) developing radar systems to be installed in aircraft, among them H2S, for which he received an OBE in 1946.

He attempted to continue his studies of cosmic rays with an ex-military radar detector unit, but suffered much background interference from the Electric trams on Manchester's Oxford Road. He moved his equipment to a more remote location, one which was free from such electrical interference, and where he established the Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey in Cheshire. It was an outpost of the University's botany department. In the course of his experiments he was able to show that radar echoes could be obtained from daytime meteor showers as they entered the Earth's atmosphere and ionised the surrounding air. With University funding he constructed the then-largest steerable radio telescope in the world, which now bears his name - the Lovell Telescope. Over 50 years later, it remains a productive radio telescope, now mostly operated as part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network interferometric arrays of radio telescope.

In 2009, Lovell spoke of a claimed assassination attempt during the Cold War where the Soviets allegedly tried to kill him with a lethal radiation dose. At the time, Lovell was head of the Jodrell Bank space telescope that was also being used as part of an early warning system for Soviet nuclear attacks. Lovell has written a full account of the incident which he said would not be published until after his death.

Although he officially retired in 1978 he remained active in the field of astronomy well into his 80s. However, in his twilight years he was very frail and lived quietly in the countryside where he enjoyed his vast garden filled with trees he himself planted many decades before.

Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell OBE, FRS 1913 - 2012 RIP