The National Science Foundation's Very Large Array radio telescope will be named after the founder of radio astronomy, Karl Jansky. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) website reported that the new name will become official at a rededication ceremony at the VLA site in New Mexico on March 31. The new name was announced at the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Austin, Texas.
"When Karl Jansky discovered radio waves coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in 1932, he blazed a scientific trail that fundamentally changed our perception of the Universe," said Fred K.Y. Lo, NRAO director. "Now, the upgraded VLA will continue that tradition by equipping scientists to address outstanding questions confronting 21st-Century astronomy. It is particularly appropriate that the upgraded very large array honor the memory and accomplishments of Karl Jansky. The new Jansky VLA is by far the most sensitive such radio telescope in the world, as was the receiver and antenna combination that Jansky himself painstakingly developed 80 years ago."
See the NRAO release Iconic Telescope Renamed to Honor Founder of Radio Astronomy for more on the VLA and Karl Jansky's accomplishments.
