Karl Guthe Jansky

Karl Guthe Jansky

American physicist and radio engineer
Date of Birth: 22.10.1905
Country: USA

Biography of Karl Jansky

Karl Guthe Jansky, often simply referred to as Karl Jansky, was born in 1905 in Oklahoma. His father, Cyril M. Jansky, was a dean at the College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Cyril Jansky was a lifelong educator and instilled a passion for physics in his sons. Karl Jansky's mother, Nellie Moreau, was of French and English descent. His older brother, Cyril Jansky Jr., shared his enthusiasm for physics and radio engineering.

Karl Guthe Jansky

Karl Jansky graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1927 with a bachelor's degree in physics. In 1928, he began working as a radio engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey. Bell Labs aimed to study atmospheric and ionospheric properties using short waves for transatlantic radio telephone service. Jansky's job was to investigate radio interference that affected the transatlantic wireless phone system.

During his research, Jansky built a specific setup and in 1932, he discovered cosmic radio emissions. He realized that the crackling and popping sounds in the headphones were caused by thunderstorms. However, he also noticed a constant hissing noise that he determined to be of extraterrestrial origin. In 1933, Jansky published his findings in a work titled "Electrical disturbances apparently of extraterrestrial origin." Unfortunately, his discovery was not initially recognized or taken seriously by the scientific community, including astronomers and radio engineers.

In 1939, after Jansky had concluded his research without receiving understanding or recognition, another American scientist and radio engineer named Grote Reber also detected radio emissions from the Milky Way. Reber, who was more visionary than Jansky, sent his work to a more targeted publication and succeeded in attracting the attention of astrophysicists.

It is unfortunate that Karl Jansky, who was passionate about his discovery, was unable to fully realize his potential. He proposed to Bell Labs the creation of a 30-meter antenna with greater sensitivity to more accurately measure the structure and intensity of radio emissions. However, Bell Labs rejected his request for funding, arguing that the discovered emissions would not significantly impact their transatlantic communication system. Jansky was later reassigned to another project and never pursued further research in astronomy.

Karl Jansky passed away at a young age on February 14, 1950, at the age of 44 due to heart failure. Later, in recognition of his work and discovery, a unit of measurement for spectral flux density was named after him – the jansky (1 Jy = 10^-26 W m^-2 Hz^-1). A crater on the Moon was also named in his honor.

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