Preface

Although I have been a radio astronomer all my working life, I have also greatly enjoyed observing the heavens. At the age of 12, I first observed the craters on the Moon and the moons of Jupiter with a simple telescope made from cardboard tubes and lenses given to me by my optician. I also made crystal and valve radios, and my friends and I set up our own telephone network across our village using former army telephones. Both of these activities were to have a major bearing on my later life.

As I write, I have my father’s thin, red-bound copy of Fred Hoyle’s book The Nature of the Universe on the desk beside me. It was this book that inspired me to become an astronomer.

I was able to study a little astronomy at Oxford but, continuing my interest in radios, was also in the signals unit of the Ofi cers’ Training Corps. As I was revising for my i nals I spotted an advertisement for a new course in radio astronomy at the Jodrell Bank Observatory. Because I was interested in both astronomy and radios this seemed a good idea and I began to study there in 1965.