It is 60 years since the first great Jodrell Bank telescope was trained on the skies to peer into the secrets of the universe. To flag up the international importance of this landmark in science history, a modest collection of nondescript industrial sheds, as well as the second of the giant radio telescopes they were built to serve and the remains of a huge aerial adapted from wartime technology, are being given listed building status by Historic England.
The Lovell Telescope has had the highest Grade I listing since 1988. The first giant telescope on the Cheshire site, it was built after Sir Bernard Lovell took his observatory from the murk and radio interference in the centre of Manchester to the clearer skies of Cheshire. The Mark I telescope – renamed the Lovell in his honour – was the first of its kind in the world, and with a height of just under 90 metres is still the third largest.
The anniversary marks the date the Lovell Telescope was first used to collect radio signals from the universe; two months later it tracked Russia’s Sputnik I as it streaked across the skies and accelerated the space race.
The Mark II telescope was built between 1962-64 and is the site’s second largest fully steerable radio telescope. Like the Mark I, it was designed by Sir Bernard Lovell and structural engineer Charles Husband, and now joins it at Grade I status. Unlike the structural steel of its predecessor, a pre-stressed concrete mount was used for greater rigidity: the design has since been copied all over the world. It was also the first telescope to be steered by a digital computer, the Ferranti Argus 104.
Astrophysicist Professor Tim O’Brien, associate director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, said: “We are delighted and very proud that the pivotal role played by Jodrell Bank in the development of radio astronomy has been celebrated with these new listings.”
Crispin Edwards, listings adviser at Historic England, said the designations were a celebration of the site and its impact on the world: “Jodrell Bank is a remarkable place where globally important discoveries were made that transformed radio astronomy and our understanding of the universe.”
The director of the discovery centre at the site, Professor Teresa Anderson – a regular alongside O’Brien on the BBC’s Stargazing Live – said the site’s landmark structures had already drawn millions of visitors. “Science is a hugely important part of our cultural heritage and we are very pleased to see that recognised and protected with these new designations.”
The site was bought by the University of Manchester in 1939, and was first used for radio astronomy in 1945 when Lovell moved from the city centre physics department to work there, with a team which initially used recycled ex-army radar equipment.
The listings include the 1950s control room linked by a tunnel to the Lovell Telescope, and two of the earliest buildings at the site, all listed at Grade II. The 1949 Park Royal building became the control room first for the Transit Telescope and then for the Mark II. The Electrical Workshop, a modest building originally serving as the main office, held Lovell’s office, library and lecture room, and was where he and his team planned the construction of their first giant telescope, and held discussions with scientists from all over the world.
The Link Hut, originally known as the Cosmic Noise Hut, was built to investigate “noise”: the extraterrestrial radio signals first detected by Karl Jansky in 1932. It was a control room for the nearby 30ft paraboloid mesh radio telescope, where research helped measure the distance to stars, and contributed to groundbreaking understanding of the structure and size of the universe.
The major discoveries at the site continued; the hut was extended in 1955 with a new darkroom, where Robert Hanbury Brown and Richard Twiss conducted optical experiments which led to the discovery of the Hanbury Brown and Twiss Effect, important both in astronomy and the developing field of quantum optics.
The last of the structures to be listed is the only surviving part of the 71 MHz Searchlight Aerial, developed in the mid 1940s by John Atherton Clegg, using his wartime experience of radio aerials. His aerial could move on its base, allowing continuous tracking of meteor showers – a project which changed Lovell’s career from physicist to astronomer. Only the aerial base survives, but it too has been Grade II listed.
Heritage minister John Glen said: “These listings will protect and celebrate the heritage of this significant site and help inspire the next generation of scientists and astronomers.”
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