The Early History of Indian Radio Astronomy: An International Perspective

India is rightly famous for the GMRT, the Giant Metre-Wave Radio Telescope near Pune, but its construction merely marked two decades of notable earlier achievements by the talented radio astronomy group at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research led by Professor Govind Swarup.

In this lecture I will discuss Govind’s remarkable track record, including his foundation years in radio astronomy in both Australia and the USA.  I also will place the evolution of early Indian radio astronomy in an international context by outlining simultaneous developments that occurred in Australia and Japan.

About the speaker:
Wayne Orchiston retired in January 2018 and currently is an Adjunct Professor of Astronomy at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), after previously working in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.  He has a special interest in the history of astronomy, and has published many research papers about Australian, French, Indian, Japanese, New Zealand and USA radio astronomy.  Two of his recent books, Exploring the History of New Zealand Astronomy … and The Emergence of Astrophysics in Asia …, both contain various chapters on early radio astronomy, and currently Wayne is writing a book about early Australian radio astronomy that will be published later this year.  Wayne is the Vice-President of IAU Commission C3 (History of Astronomy), and in 2003 he founded the IAU’s Working Group on Historic Radio Astronomy.  He also is the Editor of the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage.  In 2013 the IAU named minor planet 48471 Orchiston after him.