July 1957 - Dish of the day

Nearly 60 years ago this month, The Engineer was invited by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to visit the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire. The purpose of the visit was to get a behind-the-scenes look at the station’s latest addition: a steerable dish radio telescope that at the time was the largest in the world.

Known today as the Lovell Telescope – in honour of its chief proponent, the late Sir Bernard Lovell (who gave one of his final interviews to The Engineer)– the construction garnered attention for several reasons. “This enormous instrument is of special interest, not only for the uniqueness and promise for the astronomer but also because of the engineering problems that had to be surmounted to design and build it,” wrote The Engineer in 1957. “Civil, mechanical and electrical engineering techniques are all involved in the successful operation of the radio telescope, sometimes in an original manner.”