History of Radio Astronomy at WKU

Content

• Short Narrative
• Newspaper / Yearbook Articles
• Personal Recollections - Virgil "Max" Robinson + Others
• Roger Scott Photos
• Norman "Frank" Six, Jr. Photo + Bio?
• List of WKU Radio Astronomers? (see below)
• Request for More Info

Timeline

• 1933 - First detection of Galactic radio emission announced by Karl Jansky at Bell Labs
• 1948 - Alex Smith hired at U. Florida
• 1955 - Discovery of Jupiter decametric emission by Bernard Burke & Kenneth Franklin at Carnegie Institution
• 1955 - Alex Smith and grad student Thomas Carr establish U. Florida Radio Observatory
• 1963 - Frank Six Ph.D., U. Florida, advisor Alex Smith; to NASA-Marshall?
• 1966 - Frank Six hired as WKU Physics & Astronomy head
• 1966 - Max Robinson M.S., U. Florida, worked there for 2 years afterward
• 1968 - Max Robinson hired at WKU - in EE or in Physics?
• 1970 - Roger Scott M.S., WKU
• 1970-71 - Jim Sky freshman at WKU, then moved to U. Florida?
• 1972 - Richard Hackney Ph.D., U. Florida, advisor Alex Smith, hired at WKU
• 1973 - Karen Hackney Ph.D., U. Florida, advisor Alex Smith, hired at WKU?
• 1975 - Roger Scott Ph.D., U. Florida
• 1983 - Frank Six leaves for Arecibo, then JPL, then back to NASA-Marshall; last published work on Jupiter stuff in 1987
• 1991 - Roger Scott hired at WKU from Ball State
• 199? - Sandra Clemens visiting prof. at WKU, used dipole at Bell to observe Galactic transit?
• 1998 - Radio JOVE project initiated by a group including many of Alex Smith's former students
• 2001 - Alex Smith deceased
• 2001 - Max Robinson retires from WKU
• 2007 - Richard Hackney deceased
• 2008 - Steven Gibson hired at WKU
• 2010? - Karen Hackney retires from WKU (emeritus 2011)
• 2011 - Thomas Carr deceased
• 2011 - WKU Radio Jove observations initiated for ASTR 214
• 2012 - Roger Scott retires from WKU

WKU Radio Astronomy Faculty, Staff, and Students

• Norman "Frank" Six, P&A Head 1966-1983
• Virgil "Max" Robinson, Physics/E.E. Faculty & P&A Instructor 1968-2001
• Roger Scott, B.S. & M.S. Student 1965-1970, P&A Faculty 1991-2012
• Jesse Burd, M.S. Student circa ?
• Bill Allen, B.S. Student circa ?
• Bruce Allen, B.S. Student circa ?
• Ed Harris, B.S. Student circa ?
• James Sky, B.S. Student 1970-1971
• Richard Hackney, P&A Faculty 1972-2007, Head 2002-2004 (no radio at WKU)
• Karen Hackney, P&A Faculty 1973-2010? (no radio at WKU)
• Sam Collins, B.S. Student circa 1974-1975?
• ?
• Alonzo Alexander, Shop Tech. 1977?-2014
• Sandra Clemens, Visiting Faculty late 1990s?
• Jonathan Newton, B.S. Student 2005?-2012
• Aaron Bell, Gatton & B.S. Student 2007-2012
• Steven Gibson, P&A Faculty 2008-
• Ting-Hui Lee, P&A Faculty 2008-
• Christian Jolly, Gatton Student 2010-2012
• Mary Spraggs, Gatton & B.S. Student 2011-
• Ward Howard, Summer Intern 2012
• Jason Boyles, P&A Faculty 2012-
• James Marcus Hughes, Gatton Student 2012-2014

Radio JOVE Team Members

• Richard Flagg, RF Associates, Honolulu, HI - engineer, undergrad at U.Fl.
• Wes Greenman, ?? - engineer, ??
• Charles Higgins, Middle TN State U. - Ph.D. at U.Fl. under Alex Smith
• James Sky, Windward Observatory, HA - engineer?, ?
• James Thieman, NASA-GSFC - Ph.D. at U.Fl. under Alex Smith
• David Typinski, ?? - serious hobbyist, professional engineer?

External Links

• Max Robinson Personal Bio
• Max Robinson EEWeb Interview
• Frank Six Bio for Werner von Braun Award
• University of Florida Department of Astronomy History
• University of Florida Physics Alumni
• Karl Jansky and the Discovery of Cosmic Radio Waves (Frank Ghigo, NRAO-Green Bank)
• How One Night in a Field Changed Astronomy (Rachel Weintraub, NASA-Goddard)
• Magnetosphere of Jupiter (Wikipedia)
• Astronomy Education: New Strategies (1973 May Sky & Telescope, vol. 45, pp 286-290)
• Interferometry of Jupiter at 18 MHz with a 52800-Wavelength Baseline (Block et al. 1970 ApL 5, 133)
• Long-Baseline Analysis of a Jovian Decametric L Burst (Lynch et al. 1972 ApL 10, 153)
• Observations of a Variable Radio Source Associated with the Planet Jupiter (Burke & Franklin 1955 JGR 60, 213) - original discovery paper, content behind paywall, but citations visible
• High Resolution Radio Astronomy at 13.5 Meters (Burke & Franklin 1955 AJ, 60, 155) - brief summary of original discovery and instrumentation
• Alex G. Smith ADS Abstracts
• Thomas D. Carr ADS Abstracts
• N. Frank Six, Jr. ADS Abstracts