Person
Mills, Bernard Yarnton (1920 - 2011)
AO FAA FRS
- Born
- 8 August 1920
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Died
- 26 April 2011
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Physicist and Radio astronomer
Summary
Bernard Mills was internationally recognised as a pioneer of radio astronomy. He is noted for his work with the "Mills Cross" telescope and the development of the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) which led to the discovery of some of the first pulsars in the southern hemisphere. Mills was Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney 1965-1985 and earlier Reader 1960-1965. As a Senior Principal Research Officer in the Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO 1957-1960, he helped design and build the Mills Cross Radiotelescope, Hoskinstown, New South Wales.
Details
Born 8 August 1920. Fellow, Australian Academy of Science 1959, Fellow, Royal Society 1963.
Chronology
- 1941
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney
- 1943
- Education - BEng, University of Sydney
- 1949
- Education - MEng, University of Sydney
- 1956 - 2011
- Award - Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society, United Kingdom
- 1957
- Award - Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal, Australian Academy of Science
- 1957 - 1960
- Career position - Senior Principal Research Officer, CSIRO Division of Radio Physics
- 1959
- Education - DSc Engineering, University of Sydney
- 1959 - 2011
- Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
- 1960 - 1965
- Career position - Reader in astrophysics, University of Sydney
- 1963 - 2011
- Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
- 1965 - 1985
- Career position - Professor of Physics (astrophysics), University of Sydney
- 1967
- Award - Encyclopaedia Britannica Australian Award for Science
- 1969 - 1971
- Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science
- 1976
- Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
- 1985
- Life event - Retired
- 1985 - 2011
- Career position - Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney
- 2006
- Award - Grote Reber Medal for Radio Astronomy, administered by Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston
Related entries
Archival resources
National Library of Australia Oral History Collection
- Bernard Yarnton Mills - Records, 1925 - 1972, DeB 584; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
University of Sydney, Archives
- Bernard Yarnton Mills - Records, 1944 - 1985, P 154; University of Sydney, Archives. Details
Published resources
Books
- Bhathal, Ragbir, Australian Astronomers: Achievements at the Frontiers of Astronomy (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1996), 243 pp. Details
- Frater, Robert H.; Goss, Miller; and Wendt, Harry, Four pillars of radio astronomy: Mills, Christiansen, Wild and Bracewell (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2017), 199 pp. Details
- The Radiophysics Laboratory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, A Textbook of Radar (Sydney; London: Angus & Robertson, 1947), 579 pp. Author of Chapter 14. Details
Book Sections
- Mills, B. Y., 'Radio sources and the log N-log controversy' 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. 147-66. Details
Journal Articles
- Anon, 'Bernard Mills (1920 - 2011)', Australian Physics, 48 (4) (2011), 122, https://aip.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Australian%20Physics/Aust%20Phys%2048-4.pdf. Details
- Bhathal, Ragbir, 'Bernie Mills: inventor of the Mills Cross Telescope [interview with Mills]', Australian and New Zealand physicist, 32 (10) (1995), 209-14. Details
- Bhathal, Ragbir, 'Bernard Mills and Australian Radio Astronomy', Astronomy & Geophysics, 53 (2) (2012), 19-21, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-4004.2012.53219.x. Details
- Christiansen, W. N.; and Mills, B. Y., 'Joseph Lade Pawsey', Yearbook of the Australian Academy of Science (1964), 33-40. Details
- Christiansen, W. N.; Mills, B.Y., 'Biographical Memoirs [Joseph Lade Pawsey, including publications]', Australian Physicist, 1 (9) (1964), 137-141. Details
- Frater, R. H.; Goss, W. M.; and Wendt, H. W., 'Bernard Yarnton Mills 1920-2011', Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (2) (2013), 294-315, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR13002. Details
- Frater, R. H.; Goss, W. M.; and Wendt, H. W., 'Bernard Yarnton Mills AC FAA. 8 August 1920 - 25 April 2011', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 59 (2013), 215-39, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2013.0015. Details
- Mills, B. Y., 'Australian contribution to the science of radioastronomy', Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Australia, 8 (1) (1988), 12-23. Details
- Mills, Bernard, 'An Engineer Becomes Astronomer', Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 44 (2006), 1-15. Details
Resources
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93736421. Details
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4293579. Details
- 'Mills, Bernard Yarnton (1920-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-581621. Details
See also
- Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 2023. https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/awards-and-opportunities/thomas-ranken-lyle-medal. Details
- Bhathal, Ragbir, 'Australian Astronomers: What Made Them Great?', News and Reviews in Astronomy and Geophysics, 48 (2007), 533-6. Details
- Bowen, E. G., 'From wartime radar to postwar radio astronomy in Australia', Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Australia, 8 (1), 1-11. 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
Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education