12 Facts About Antony Hewish

Antony Hewish was a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his role in the discovery of pulsars.

Antony Hewish was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969.

Antony Hewish was assigned to war service at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and at the Telecommunications Research Establishment where he worked with Martin Ryle.

Antony Hewish proposed the construction of a large phased array radio telescope, which could be used to perform a survey at high time resolution, primarily for studying interplanetary scintillation.

Antony Hewish initially thought that the signal might be radio frequency interference, but it remained at a constant right ascension, which is unlikely for a terrestrial source.

The scientific paper announcing the discovery had five authors, Antony Hewish's name being listed first, Bell's second.

Michael Rowan-Robinson later wrote that "Antony Hewish was undoubtedly the major player in the work that led to the discovery, inventing the scintillation technique in 1952, leading the team that built the array and made the discovery, and providing the interpretation".

Antony Hewish was professor of radio astronomy in the Cavendish Laboratory from 1971 to 1989 and head of the MRAO from 1982 to 1988.

Antony Hewish developed an association with the Royal Institution in London when it was directed by Sir Lawrence Bragg.

Antony Hewish subsequently gave several Friday Evening Discourses and was made a Professor of the Royal Institution in 1977.

Antony Hewish was a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.

Antony Hewish had honorary degrees from six universities, including Manchester, Exeter and Cambridge, was a foreign member of the Belgian Royal Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy.