Person

Bowen, Edward George (1911 - 1991)

CBE FAA FRS

Born
14 January 1911
Swansea, Wales
Died
12 August 1991
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Radiophysicist and Science administrator

Summary

Edward Bowen was a physicist who played a leading role in the development of radar, radio astronomy and navigation, and experimental cloud physics. His early career focused on research on ground-based and airborne radar as a member of the U.K. radar development team from 1935 to 1943. During WWI he was a member of the Tizard Mission to the U.S.A., during which he was involved in innovative work on microwave radar. In 1943 Bowen was invited to become Chief of the CSIR(O) Division of Radiophysics, which position he held until retiring in 1971. Among the research he conducted in Australia included work on the pulse method of acceleration of elementary particles, and on air navigation, which resulting in Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) ultimately adopted by many civilian aircraft. Bowen also instigated research into cloud physics and rain-making experiments, studies which he continued in retirement. One of his greatest achievements was the establishment of the Parkes Radio telescope. In addition he was involved in the Anglo-Australian Telescope as Chairman of the Committees which oversaw its construction.

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Details

Chronology

1930
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Wales, United Kingdom
1931
Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Wales, United Kingdom
1934
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), King's College, London
1935
Career position - Member, UK radar development team
1936 - 1940
Career position - Physicist, Air Ministry Research Station, Bawdsey, England
1940 - 1942
Career position - Physicist, British Air Commission, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
1941
Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
1943
Career position - Research physicist, MIT Radiation Laboratory, U.S.A.
1944 - 1946
Career position - Physicist, CSIRO Division of Radiophysics
1946 - 1971
Career position - Chief, CSIRO Division of Radiophysics
1947
Award - Medal of Freedom, United States of America
1949
Career position - Fellow and first President, Australian Institute of Navigation
1950
Award - Thurlow Award, American Institute of Navigation
1957
Award - DSc honoris causa, University of Sydney
1957
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1962
Career position - Vice-President, Australian Academy of Science
1962
Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1967 - 1971
Career position - Chairman, Joint Policy Committee of the Anglo-Australian Telescope
1971 - 1973
Career position - Chairman, Anglo-Australian Telescope Board
1973 - 1976
Career position - Scientific Liaison Office, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
1975
Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Edward George Bowen - Records, 1935 - 1972, DeB 609; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Bowen, Edward George, Radar Days (Bristol: Adam Hilger, 1987), xiv, 231 p pp. Author. Details
  • The Radiophysics Laboratory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, A Textbook of Radar (Sydney; London: Angus & Robertson, 1947), 579 pp. Author of Chapter 1. Details

Book Sections

  • Bhathal, R., 'Bowen, Edward George (1911-1991), engineer and radio physicist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 19: 1991 - 1995 A-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2021), pp. 78-79, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bowen-edward-george-17857. Details
  • Bowen, E. G., 'The origins of radio astronomy in Australia' in The early years of radio astronomy: reflections fifty years after Jansky's discovery, Sullivan, W. T., ed. (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 85-112. Details
  • Minnett, H. C., 'Edward George Bowen, 1911-1991' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Edited Books

  • Bowen, Edward George ed., A textbook of radar: a collective work (London: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 617 pp. Author. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bowen, E. G., 'From wartime radar to postwar radio astronomy in Australia', Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Australia, 8 (1), 1-11. Details
  • Bowen, E. G., 'The Prehistory of the Parkes 64-m telescope', Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 4 (2) (1981), 267-273. Details
  • Brown, R. Hanbury; Minnett, Harry C; White, Fredrick W. G., 'Edward George Bowen 1911-1991', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (2) (1992), 151-166. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9920920151. Details
  • Brown, Robert Hanbury; Minnett, H. C.; and White, Frederick William George, 'Edward George Bowen, 14 January 1911 - 12 August 1991', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 38 (1992), 41-65. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1992.0003. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_b.html. Details
  • Anglo-Australian Telescope Board. Joint Policy Committee, Anglo-Australian Telescope Project: report, 1 September 1967-30 June 1970 (Canberra: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board, 1971), v. 29 p pp. Contributing author. Details
  • Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_b.html. Details
  • Crompton, R. W., 'Leonard George Holden Huxley 1902-1988', Historical Records of Australian Science, 8 (4) (1991), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9910840249.htm. Details
  • Day, David, Weather watchers: 100 years of the Bureau of Meteorology (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2007), 530 pp. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. pp.212-213. Details
  • McPhee, Margaret, Dictionary of Australian Inventions and Discoveries (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1993), 175 pp. Reference on page 3. Details
  • Paterson, M. S., 'John Conrad Jaeger 1907-1979', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (3) (1982), 64-88. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9820530064. Details
  • Robertson, Peter, Beyond Southern Skies: Radio Astronomy and the Parkes Telescope (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 368 pp. Details

Digital resources

Title
Edward George Bowen
Type
Image

Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

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