Science · Engineering & invention
Antony Hewish
Radio astronomer and telescope designer
Also known as Tony Hewish · A. Hewish
Who they are
Antony Hewish designed the Cambridge radio telescope used for the survey in which Jocelyn Bell Burnell identified repeating pulses. As her supervisor, he investigated the signal’s timing and possible explanations with other collaborators. Bell Burnell’s account separates his instrument and analysis roles from her recognition of the unusual traces and operation of the survey.
He appears in the pulsar-discovery sequence, where an initially puzzling signal became a new class of astronomical object.
Selected contributions
Selected reading about this person
Primary text · 1979
Little Green Men, White Dwarfs or Pulsars?
Bell Burnell recounts identifying the repeating pulses and the subsequent checks by Hewish and other collaborators. Her retrospective separates telescope operation, recognition of the signal, timing analysis and independent checks.
Cosmic Search reprint, January 1979; the page identifies an earlier December 1977 publication as “Petit Four.”
Reading scope & citation
Freshly read the discovery narrative and publication note; historical recollection, not raw observing records. Reuses the input’s documented prior inspection: Discovery-sequence passages and reprint provenance inspected; account originated as a speech published December 1977. No fresh full-work reread in this directory pass. Existing discovery-sequence inspection reused; fresh page heading and provenance read. Original recordings and full 1968 discovery paper not audited.
In the timeline
Biography sources
- Little Green Men, White Dwarfs or Pulsars? ↗Cosmic Search; permissioned reprint hosted by NRAO