Joseph Lade Pawsey Australian astronomer. Date of Birth: 14.05.1908 Country: Australia

Biography of Joseph Lade Pawsey

Joseph Lade Pawsey was an Australian astronomer who played a significant role in the field of radio astronomy. Born in Ararat, Victoria, he graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1931 before pursuing further education at the University of Cambridge in England from 1931 to 1934.

After completing his studies, Pawsey worked at the research laboratory of the electrical engineering company, EMI, in England from 1934 to 1939. Following the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Radiophysics Laboratory of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Sydney in 1940.

Pawsey became one of the pioneering radio physicists to delve into radio astronomical research after the end of World War II. Prior to 1945, he focused on studying the propagation of radio waves in the Earth's atmosphere and contributed to the development of television and radar technology.

In 1945, Pawsey established and subsequently led radio astronomical research in Australia. His primary area of study was solar radio emission. In 1945, he discovered a correlation between radio emission and sunspot activity. In 1946, he proposed that the radio emission from the sunspots could not be a result of thermal processes and suggested that it was caused by intense electrical disturbances in the solar atmosphere.

The same year, Pawsey confirmed the existence of radio waves emitted by the solar corona in the meter wavelength range, as predicted by V. L. Ginzburg and D. F. Martyn. During the early 1950s, he conducted several research projects on the Earth's ionosphere in collaboration with L. L. McCready and F. F. Gardner. He identified and measured the thermal radio emission of the ionosphere, corresponding to a temperature of 300 K, and determined the height and electron concentration of the emitting region.

Pawsey also dedicated his efforts to the advancement of radio astronomy instrumentation. He played an active role in the development of the 64-meter radio telescope for the Radiophysics Laboratory of CSIRO in Sydney.

For his contributions to the field of radio astronomy, Pawsey received numerous honors and awards. He was awarded the Lyle Medal by the Australian National Research Council in 1953 and the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society of London in 1960. In recognition of his achievements, a crater on the Moon was named after him.