Bernie Fanaroff honoured
Dr. Bernie Fanaroff is to receive South Africa’s highest award for his contribution to astronomy and in particular for his role in establishing South Africa as a world-class research destination and host for the mid-frequency elements of the SKA.
Bernie’s contributions to radio astronomy began back in the 1970’s when as a Ph.D. student here in Cambridge he identified along with Julia Riley the two classes of radio sources which now bear their names – Fanaroff and Riley class I and class II sources, or FR-I and FR-II as they are now universally known.б He returned to astronomy after a very distinguished career within the trade-union movement in South Africa to head the South African bid to host the SKA.б б The vision which he has now realised was for RSA not only to act as the host for a this major global infrastructure, but also to be a full partner in the technology development and scientific exploitation of the SKA.б He has led the formation of a truly world-class radio astronomy team in RSA who are delivering the ambitious MeerKAT SKA precursor.
We send our warmest congratulations to Bernie on this immensely well-deserved honour.
For the text of the official announcement and more information see