Bernard Yarnton Mills AC, FRS,

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * 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 * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

(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 celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...

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, ab ...

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), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. 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

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 The Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal is awarded at most every two years by the Australian Academy of Science to a mathematician or physicist for his or her outstanding research accomplishments.

*1959 Elected

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...

(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 honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(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

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