| RefNo | EC/1978/13 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XX, 102 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Hey, James Stanley: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1977 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | In the four years 1942-1946 when Hey was on the staff of the Army Operational Research Group he made three separate discoveries which had a critical effect on the post-war development of UK science. In 1942 when investigating suspected enemy jamming of radar equipment he discovered the abnormal radio emissions associated with solar flares. In 1944 when adapting anti-aircraft radar systems for the detection of V2 rockets he discovered that the ionisation from meteor trails in the 100 km region gave detectable radar echoes, and in the course of improving the sensitivity of the receivers he was led to investigate the cosmic radio noise discovered by Jansky in 1931. He made the first of the metre wave radio maps of the sky and in doing so discovered the localised source of radio emission on Cygnus. In the light of the subsequent developments in radar and radio astronomy it is now possible to assess the immense importance of Hey's work in those years. In 1952 he moved to RRE Malvern where he was responsible for the erection of the precision interferometric radio telescope system on the runways of the Defford airfield. The measurement of the accurate position of radio sources and the use of the telescopes to establish a long baseline interferometric system with the telescopes at Jodrell Bank had a great influence on work progress had a great influence on world progress in radio astronomy. The angular diameter measurements made with this system formed an important part of the sequence of investigations leading to the discovery of quasars. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA243 | Hey; James Stanley (1909 - 2000) | 1909 - 2000 |