THE GENESIS OF SOLAR RADIO ASTRONOMY IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

In late 1945, O.B. Slee at RAAF Radar Station 59 near Darwin and staff from the CSIRO's Division of Radiophysics in Sydney were involved in Australia's first investigation of radio emission from the Sun. After WWII, the Sydney radio astronomers were joined by small independent groups based at the Commonwealth Observatory, Mt Stromlo, and in the Physics Department at the University of Western Australia, in Perth. Between 1946 and 1948, these young scientists made an important contribution to international astronomy, heightening our understanding of solar physics and the relationship between sunspots and solar radio emission.