Karl jansky fun facts
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Karl Guthe Jansky
American physicist and radio engineer (1905–1950)
Karl Guthe Jansky (October 22, 1905 – February 14, 1950) was an American physicist and radio engineer who in April 1933 first announced his discovery of radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius. He is considered one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.[1]
Early life
Karl Guthe Jansky was born 1905 in what was then the Territory of Oklahoma where his father, Cyril M. Jansky, was dean of the college of engineering at the University of Oklahoma at Norman. Cyril M. Jansky, born in Wisconsin of Czech immigrants, had started teaching at the age of sixteen. He was a teacher throughout his active life, retiring as professor of electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin. He was an engineer with a strong interest in physics, a trait passed on to his sons. Karl Jansky was named after Dr. Karl Eugen Guthe, a professor of physics at the University of Michigan who had been an important mentor to Cyril M. Jansky.
Karl Jansky's mother, born Nellie More
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Karl Jansky
- Birthdate
- 1905/10/22
- Death date
- 1950/02/14
- Associated organizations
- Bell Labs
- Fields of study
- Radio astronomy
Biography
Karl Guthe Jansky, born on October 22, 1905, is most famous for discovering radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in 1931, using a radio telescope, a foundational event in the field of Radio Astronomy. He received a B.S. in physics at the University of Wisconsin in 1927, and began working at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, USA, in 1928.
In the early 1930s at the laboratories, Jansky was investigating the noise in the radiotelephone transmissions across the Atlantic Ocean. He distinguished three types of static: crashes from local thunderstorms, a steadier and weaker static from the combined effect of distant storms, and a weak hiss of unknown origin.
In an article in the October 1933 Proceedings of the IRE, he first reported these results, suggesting that the weak hiss might be associated with the sun. He investigated the noise further with a highly directional antenna at the 14.6m wavelength. He found that
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Karl Jansky
Karl Jansky, often referred to as the father of radio astronomy, was born on October 22, 1905 in Norman, Oklahoma. He was one of six children born to Nellie Jansky and Cyril Jansky, from whom he and his three brothers acquired an interest in physics at a young age. Cyril Jansky was a professor of electrical engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma before later accepting an appointment at the University of Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin that Karl Jansky began his formal education. Following his public school years, he entered the state university, where he embarked on a study of physics. Jansky received a B.S. degree in 1927, graduating with honors. He remained at the university for an extra year as an instructor and completed coursework towards a graduate degree, but did not receive the degree at that time because he did not write a thesis.
Jansky began working at Bell Laboratories in 1928, despite the company’s initial hesitation to hire him due to his health problems (Jansky had been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in
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