Antony Hewish

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Antony Hewish
Born Antony Hewish
(1924-05-11) 11 May 1924 (age 100)
Fowey, Cornwall, England
Nationality United Kingdom
Fields Radio astronomy
Institutions <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Alma mater <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Thesis The fluctuations of galactic radio waves (1952)
Doctoral students Jocelyn Bell Burnell[1]
Known for Pulsars
Notable awards <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Spouse Marjorie Richards (m. 1950)[3]

Antony Hewish FRS[2] (born 11 May 1924 in Fowey, Cornwall) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969.[4][5][6]

Early life and education

He attended King's College, Taunton. His undergraduate degree at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, was interrupted by war service at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and at the Telecommunications Research Establishment where he worked with Martin Ryle. Returning to Cambridge in 1946, Hewish completed his degree and immediately joined Ryle's research team at the Cavendish Laboratory, obtaining his PhD in 1952.[7] Hewish made both practical and theoretical advances in the observation and exploitation of the apparent scintillations of radio sources due to their radiation impinging upon plasma. This led him to propose, and secure funding for, the construction of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array, a large array radio telescope at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO), Cambridge to conduct a high time-resolution radio survey of interplanetary scintillation.

Nobel prize

In the course of this survey, one of his graduate students, Jocelyn Bell, noted the radio source which was ultimately recognised as the first pulsar. The paper announcing the discovery[8] had five authors, Hewish's name being listed first, Bell's second. Hewish and Martin Ryle were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974 for work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. The Nobel award to Ryle and Hewish without the inclusion of Bell as a co-recipient was controversial, and was roundly condemned by Hewish's fellow astronomer Fred Hoyle.[9] See Nobel prize controversies.[10]

Career and research

Hewish was professor of radio astronomy at the Cavendish Laboratory from 1971 to 1989, and head of the MRAO from 1982 to 1988. He developed an association with the Royal Institution in London when it was directed by Sir Lawrence Bragg. In 1965 he was invited to co-deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Exploration of the Universe. He subsequently gave several Friday Evening Discourses[6] and was made a Professor of the Royal Institution in 1977.[3][11]

Hewish is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. He is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.[12]

Awards and honours

Hewish has Honorary degrees from six universities including Manchester, Exeter and Cambridge, is a Foreign Member of the Belgian Royal Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. Other awards and honours include:[3]

Personal life

Hewish married Marjorie Elizabeth Catherine Richards in 1950. They have a son, a physicist, and a daughter, a language teacher.[6][14]

Religious views

Hewish has argued that religion and science are complementary. In the foreword to Questions of Truth Hewish writes, "The ghostly presence of virtual particles defies rational common sense and is non-intuitive for those unacquainted with physics. Religious belief in God, and Christian belief ... may seem strange to common-sense thinking. But when the most elementary physical things behave in this way, we should be prepared to accept that the deepest aspects of our existence go beyond our common-sense understanding."[15]

References

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  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (subscription required)
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ but according to a search of the Royal Institution website he was Professor of Astronomy during 1976–1981
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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