Astronomer Bernard Lovell dies

7 August 2012 Last updated at 08:36 ET

Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell has died aged 98.

Sir Bernard, who was born near Bristol and studied in the city, was the founder of University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Jodrell Bank and the surrounding Cheshire countryside is dominated by the Lovell Radio Telescope, which was conceived by Sir Bernard.

Professor Brian Cox, who knew Sir Bernard, said he was "an inquisitive scientist all the way".

A book of condolence has been opened at the observatory's Discovery Centre.

Radar to telescope

Sir Bernard was born in Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, in 1913 and studied at the University of Bristol before joining the University of Manchester's Department of Physics in 1936.

During World War II he led a team developing radar technology, for which he was later awarded an OBE.

Following the war, he returned to the university and set about planning the observatory.

His iconic 76m (249ft) telescope was completed in 1957. Within days of it becoming operational, it tracked the rocket that carried Sputnik 1 into orbit.

The structure remains the third largest steerable telescope in the world and plays a key role in global research on pulsating stars, testing extreme physics theories including Einstein's general theory of relativity.

The telescope and his other contributions to radio astronomy led to him being knighted in 1961.

A spokesman for the university said Sir Bernard was "warm and generous".

He said the astronomer had "retained a keen interest in the development of science at Jodrell Bank and beyond".

The spokesman added: "Indeed he continued to come in to work at the Observatory until quite recently when ill health intervened."

'A pioneer'

Sir Bernard was also an accomplished musician, a keen cricketer and an internationally-renowned arboriculturalist who created an arboretum at Jodrell Bank.

He is survived by four of his five children, 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Professor Cox, who met Sir Bernard after joining the University of Manchester in the 1990s, said: "I remember once I went to his house and immediately he said 'ah Cox, tell me about this muon' [a sub-atomic particle].

"He knew that I was doing particle physics and thought back to the last time he had thought about such things - he'd been thinking about astronomy for decades - and that's what he wanted to talk about.

"That was him - all his life, he was a scientist.

"He was a pioneer of radio astronomy and almost invented the subject.

"He built the leading telescope and that radio study of the sky has contributed a vast amount to our understanding of the universe."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19164236#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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