The Radio Astronomy Lab (RAL) is an Organized Research Unit (ORU) within the Astronomy Department at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. It was founded by faculty member Harold Weaver in 1958. Until 2012, RAL maintained a radio astronomy observatory at Hat Creek, near Mt. Lassen. It continues to support on-campus laboratory facilities in Campbell Hall. From 1998 to 2012, the RAL collaborated with the SETI Institute of Mountain View California to design, build and operate the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). RAL has been central to the creation of several radio observatories, including: * Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO), * the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), * the

Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association The Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) was a collaboration of the Universities of California, Illinois, and Maryland that built and operated the eponymously named BIMA radio telescope array.Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) was an astronomical instrument comprising 23 radio telescopes, dedicated in 2006. These telescopes formed an astronomical interferometer where all the signals are combined in a ...

(CARMA) array, * the

Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization The Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) is a radio interferometer funded by the National Science Foundation to detect 21 cm hydrogen (HI) fluctuations occurring when the first galaxies ionized inte ...

(PAPER) array

Research Interests

* Millimeter-wavelength

interferometry Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber opt ...

Very Long Baseline Interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telescopes on Earth or in space. The ...

* Low-frequency radio interferometry targeting the

Epoch of Reionization In the fields of Big Bang theory and cosmology, reionization is the process that caused matter in the universe to reionize after the lapse of the " dark ages". Reionization is the second of two major phase transitions of gas in the universe (t ...

Pulsars A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Ea ...

and other radio transients *

Digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...

(DSP) instrumentation

Directors

Carl Heiles Carl Eugene Heiles (born 1939) is an American astrophysicist noted for his contribution to the understanding of diffuse interstellar matter through observational radio astronomy. Biography Heiles was born in Toledo, Ohio. He did his undergradua ...

(director, 2010-current) *

Donald Backer Donald C. Backer (November 9, 1943 – July 25, 2010) was an American astrophysicist who primarily worked in radio astronomy. Backer made important contributions to the understanding and study of pulsars (including the discovery of the first mil ...

(director, 2008–2010), deceased *

Leo Blitz Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

(director, 1996–2008) *

William "Jack" Welch William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(director, 1972–1996), retired *

Harold Weaver Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts a ...

(director, 1958–1972), retired

Current Faculty

Imke de Pater Imke de Pater is a Dutch astronomer working at the University of California, Berkeley. She is known for her research on the large planets and led the team using the Keck Telescope to image the 1994 impact of the comet Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 wit ...

Geoff Bower Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...

Aaron Parsons Aaron R. Parsons (born 1980) is an American astrophysicist who works primarily in the fields of radio astronomy instrumentation and experimental cosmology. Biography Parsons was born in 1980. He grew up in Rangely, Colorado and graduated si ...

Senior Scientific Staff

Dick Plambeck Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

Melvyn Wright Melvyn is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Melvyn Betts (born 1975), English cricketer * Melvyn Bragg (born 1939), British broadcaster and author * Melvyn Caplan, British Conservative politician * Melvyn Douglas (1901-1981), American a ...

References

External links