Mills, Bernard Yarnton (1920 - 2011)

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

7 Jun 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
• Goss, W. M.; Hooker, Claire; and Ekers, Ronald D., Joe Pawsey and the founding of Australian radio astronomy: early discoveries, from the sun to the cosmos (Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2023), 1815 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 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
• 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
• Large, M. I., Mills, B. Y., Little, A. G., Crawford, D. F., and Sutton, J. M., 'The Molonglo reference catalogue of radio sources', Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 194 (1981), 693-704. Details
• Mills, B. Y., 'The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope', Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 4 (1981), 156-9. 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, B. Y. and Little, A. G., 'Future plans for the Molonglo Radio Telescope', Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 2 (1972), 134-5. Details
• Mills, B. Y., Aitchison, R. E., Little, A. G., and McAdam, W. B., 'The Sydney University cross-type radio telescope', Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers Australia, 24 (1963), 156-65. Details
• Mills, Bernard, 'An Engineer Becomes Astronomer', Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 44 (2006), 1-15. Details
• Mills. B. Y., 'Origins of the Molonglo Radio Observatory - the Cross and the MOST', Australian journal of physics, 44 (1991), 719-27. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4293579. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93736421. Details
• 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
• 'Mills, Bernard Yarnton (1920-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-581621. Details

See also

• 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
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/EA1_Wonders%20never%20cease.pdf. "An astronomical achievement", pp.212-3. Details