The forty-seventh Kelvin Lecture. ¿Radio astronomy and the Jodrell Bank telescope¿

The lecture describes some of the scientific characteristics of the 250 ft-aperture steerable radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station of the University of Manchester. Some of the research problems on which the telescope will be used are then outlined against the current background in radio astronomy. These include the study of the background continuum radio emission of the Galaxy and of the galactic radio sources over a wide range of wavelengths. The main programme on the extragalactic radio emissions will involve a study of the spatial distribution of particular classes of extragalactic radio sources and the measurement of their distances, from which it is hoped that significant progress can be made with cosmological problems. The telescope will also be used as a combined transmitter and receiver to make further studies of the moon and possibly the planets. Other items in the programme include the study of very faint meteors by the radio echo technique and various problems of solar terrestrial relation ships of particular importance to the International Geophysical Year.