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Astronomy and Astrophysics Other Sites

SITES THAT ARE NO LONGER EXTANT

Grote Reber House
212 West Seminary Road
Wheaton, Illinois
Demolished (Now a public park)

Beginning in 1935, Grote Reber constructed the world's first radio telescope here, in the backyard of his house, and began to pursue the study of radio astronomy, following the discoveries of Karl Jansky. The original Reber radio telescope is now found at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, West Virginia.

Alvan Clark Home, Workshop and Observatory
184 Brookline Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Demolished in 1923.

Alvan Clark, the famous American telescope maker, directed his firm, Alvan Clark & Sons from this location from 1860 until his death in 1887. The firm continued to operate first under the direction of Alvan Clark's sons, and after their deaths, under the direction of Carl Axel Robert Lundin until his death in 1915. The property was demolished in 1923.

Jansky Rotating Antenna
Bell Labs
Holmdel, New Jersey
Demolished

Working at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1933, Karl Guthe Jansky (1905-1950) was the first person to detect radio emissions from gases lying between the stars of the Milky Way, thus establishing the foundation for the science of radio astronomy. Jansky never followed up his discovery and the field of radio astronomy was left to Grote Reber from Wheaton, Illinois to continued his research. Jansky's Rotating Antenna was broken up soon after he ceased his research. An exact replica, constructed from the original drawings by the same man who built the original, now stands as a memorial to Jansky at the entrance of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, West Virginia.

Last Modified: Mon, Nov 5 2001 8:00:00 pm PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/butowsky5/astro5d.htm