This week,when two trustees of the Grote Reber Foundation visit the worlds largest meter wavelength radio telescope the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT),located at Narayangaon in the district they will bring with them a unique gift the ashes of Grote Reber,the worlds first radio astronomer. These ashes,to be presented to the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), will be placed at the GMRT site at Khodad,80 km from Pune,at a ceremony on February 4. Grote Reber was a pioneer in radio astronomy. He was at least a decade ahead of his time and worked on his own without worrying about academic positions. We are honoured, said Dr Jayaram Chengalur,dean,NCRA. It was a year ago that the Grote Reber Foundation approached the GMRT to keep Rebers ashes on its premises. Besides the GMRT,the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO),Greenback,West Virginia,US,Jodrell Bank Observatory,Manchester,UK,and the Arecibo Radio Telescope,Puerto Rico,US,also have Rebers ashes. Reber,born in Chicago in 1911,was a self-trained astronomer and is now considered the father of radio astronomy. Scientists say Reber had built the worlds first radio telescope in his backyard in 1937. This was much before radio astronomy became a stream of research for astronomers. The Reber Radio Telescope is now reconstructed and is placed at NRAO in the US. Rebers achievements include making a radio frequency sky map in the early 1940s. In the 1950s,he turned his attention to detecting extremely low frequency radio waves. The earths ionosphere usually reflects waves at these low frequencies,and there are only a few places on the planet,where special circumstances allow the waves to reach the surface of the earth. One of these is Tasmania,an island off the southern coast of Australia. Grote Reber moved there in 1954,and remained there till he died in 2002, a GMRT official said. The Grote Reber Foundation,established in his memory,also administers an award the Grote Reber medal which is given for innovative contribution to radio astronomy. Recently,Prof Govind Swarup,the founder director of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,which built the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope,had won this medal, said J K Solanki,administrative officer,GMRT.
