The first successful radio astronomy observation in Australia took
place on 3 October 1945. Scientists from the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR, later CSIRO), supported by the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF), began a program to observe radio waves
emitted from the Sun using equipment which had been installed at the
Collaroy Plateau air and sea defence radar station during WWII. The
detection on 3 October of intense radio emission coming from the Sun
marked the birth of radio astronomy in Australia.
The CSIR team was led by Joseph ("Joe") Lade Pawsey, pictured above,
and included Ruby Payne-Scott and Lindsay McCready.
More details are given in
this CSIROpedia article by Harry Wendt, Jessica Chapman and Hastings Pawsey.
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