Antony Hewish was a pioneering British radio astronomer born on May 11, 1924, in Fowey, Cornwall, whose career was profoundly shaped by his wartime experience with electronics and antennas. He joined the University of Cambridge where he became University Lecturer during 1961-69, Reader during 1969-71, and ultimately Professor of Radio Astronomy from 1971 until his retirement in 1989. His academic journey was significantly influenced by Jack Ratcliffe's memorable course on electromagnetic theory during his undergraduate studies. Hewish established himself as a leading figure in the emerging field of radio astronomy during the post-war scientific renaissance. His foundational work at Cambridge positioned him at the forefront of astronomical innovation during a transformative period for the discipline.
Hewish's most renowned achievement was leading the team that discovered pulsars in 1967, a breakthrough that revolutionized our understanding of stellar evolution and confirmed the existence of rapidly rotating, magnetized neutron stars. He conceived and designed the Interplanetary Scintillation Array, a large low-frequency radio telescope that detected cosmic phenomena through the scintillation of radio sources caused by electron density fluctuations in the solar wind. His innovative application of interplanetary scintillation techniques enabled high angular resolution measurements in radio astronomy, equivalent to an interferometer with a 1000 km baseline. This methodological breakthrough allowed for unprecedented studies of the ionospheric, interplanetary, and interstellar plasmas that shape our cosmic environment. The discovery of pulsars, initially noted by his research student Jocelyn Bell Burnell during data analysis, represented one of the most significant astronomical findings of the twentieth century.
Beyond his Nobel Prize-winning work, Hewish made substantial contributions across the breadth of radio astronomy, including telescope and electronic design, cosmological studies of distant radio sources, and plasma physics investigations. He was deeply committed to science communication, co-delivering the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Exploration of the Universe in 1965 and presenting numerous Friday Evening Discourses to share scientific excitement with the public. Hewish believed passionately that scientists have a duty to share the pleasure of their work with the general public and enjoyed presenting difficult ideas in understandable ways. His legacy continues through the enduring impact of his methodological innovations and his role in establishing radio astronomy as a rigorous scientific discipline. The discovery of pulsars opened an entirely new window on the universe, providing unique tools for testing general relativity and exploring extreme states of matter.
