Grote Reber’s First Radio Telescope

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Grote Reber’s First Radio Telescope

In a side yard of his mother’s house in Wheaton, Illinois, a 26-year old engineer named Grote Reber built the first dish antenna radio telescope in 1937. He used wooden rafters, galvanized sheet metal, and spare parts from a Ford Model T truck. With this 31-foot diameter telescope, Reber mapped the radio structure of our Galaxy, discovered bright sources of radio waves outside our Galaxy, and made the observations that would later help physicists discover non-thermal radiation.

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
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