Keynote Speaker for Annual Conference Announced

Frank GhigoBrief biography

Frank Ghigo grew up in rural Virginia where the dark skies encouraged an early interest in astronomy, first sparked by his grandmother pointing out the big dipper. He majored in Astronomy at Haverford College. His graduate studies at the University of Texas included a low frequency survey of the radio sky, leading to a PhD in 1976. Post-doc positions at Brandeis University and the University of Minnesota allowed him to pursue interests in interacting galaxies and radio jets in galactic nuclei, as well as comparisons of radio and optical data.

Frank has been on the staff at NRAO in Green Bank since 1988, helping visiting astronomers learn to use the telescopes. Other projects during these years have involved studies of X-ray binary stars, Earth orientation, and geodesy. His interest in the history of science made him an enthusiastic co-editor of a volume on the early history of the Green Bank Observatory.

 

Early History of the NRAO at Green Bank

 

Frank Ghigo

NRAO Green Bank, WV

KEY NOTE SPEAKER

ABSTRACT

The establishment of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the 1950s met the need for a national facility available to all US researchers. This facility was built in Green Bank WV,
primarily because of the freedom from radio interference in this valley.

Scientists and engineers from the US and Europe worked very hard in the early days to build NRAO into a world-class research institution.

The first telescope planned was the 140-foot. This unique instrument proved to be very difficult to build and was not finished until 1965, several years behind schedule. In the meantime, however, both 85-foot and 300-foot telescopes were completed, beginning 50 years of cutting-edge radio astronomy research.

 

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