Wilbur Norman Christiansen, Australian astronomer and engineer (d. 2007)
Wilbur Norman "Chris" Christiansen (9 August 1913 in Melbourne, Victoria – 26 April 2007 in Dorrigo, New South Wales) was a pioneer Australian radio astronomer and electrical engineer.
He grew up in Elsternwick, Victoria. His father was the minister at the Elsternwick Congregational Church, and his mother a music teacher. He was colloquially known as "Chris". In 1931 he entered the University of Melbourne reading Science, and was associated as a non-resident student with Trinity College, where he won an Exhibition in 1932. He graduated BSc (1934) and MSc (1935), winning the Professor Kernot Research Scholarship in Natural Philosophy. He later graduated DSc from the University of Melbourne (1959).
Christiansen built the first grating array for scanning the sun at the radio astronomy field station at Potts Hill, New South Wales. A later array at Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, the Chris Cross Telescope, was named after Christiansen. For many years, he was chairman of the electrical engineering department at the University of Sydney.
He died on 26 April 2007 in Dorrigo, New South Wales, near his son Tim and his brother Steven. His wife Elspeth died in 2001 and their son Peter, also a space physicist, died in 1992.
1913Aug, 9
Wilbur Norman Christiansen
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Events on 1913
- 21Feb
Balkan Wars
Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars. - 25Jun
Great Reunion of 1913
American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913. - 3Jul
Great Reunion of 1913
Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors. - 4Jul
Great Reunion of 1913
President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913. - 16Aug
HMS Queen Mary
Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.