Bernard Yarnton Mills
AC,
FRS,
,
DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to:
Education
* Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
* District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India
* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine
Educational institutions
* Dyal Sin ...
(Eng) (8 August 1920 – 25 April 2011) was an Australian engineer and a pioneer of
radio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...
in Australia, responsible for the design and implementation of the
Mills Cross Telescope
The Mills Cross Telescope was a two-dimensional radio telescope built by Bernard Mills in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, a ...
and the
Molonglo Cross Telescope.
Life
Bernard Mills was born on 8 August 1920 in
Manly. His father, Ellice Mills, was an architect who had migrated from England before the First World War. His mother, Sylphide Dinwiddie, was a dance teacher from New Zealand.
He was educated at the King's School, and at the age of 16, was awarded a scholarship to study engineering at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. He completed his degree in 1942, and was awarded first class honours in 1950 for his thesis ''A Million-Volt Resonant-Cavity X-ray Tube'' presented for his Master of Engineering degree. In 1942 he married Lerida Karmalsky, who won the Australian Chess championship in 1940 at the age of 18, and they had 3 children. In 1969 Lerida died; the following year he married Crys, who had two children of similar age to Mills' children.
[
In 1948 he commenced working with the CSIR's newly formed radio astronomy group, where he had the idea for what became known as the Mills Cross radio telescope; the first ]Mills Cross Telescope
The Mills Cross Telescope was a two-dimensional radio telescope built by Bernard Mills in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, a ...
became operational in 1954. In 1959 he became a doctor of science in engineering.[ In 1960 he was appointed reader in physics at the University of Sydney, where he developed the concept for the "Super Cross". In 1965 he was appointed professor of physics (astrophysics). The Molonglo Cross Telescope became operational in 1967.][
He was retired by the university in 1985.][
]
Awards and honours
*1957 Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal
*1959 Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
*1963 Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
*1967 Shared the Britannica Australia Award for Science.
*1976 Appointed Companion of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
(AC), but refused to accept it from then Governor General Sir John Kerr, waiting until Kerr's resignation before accepting.
*2006 Awarded the Grote Reber Gold Medal for Radio Astronomy.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Eric Weisstein
Encyclopædia Britannica
Biographical memoirs
Australian Academy of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Bernard
1920 births
2011 deaths
20th-century Australian astronomers
Companions of the Order of Australia
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Fellows of the Royal Society
Engineers from Sydney
Radio astronomers