Abstract
Radio astronomy commenced in earnest after World War II, with Australia keenly engaged through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. At this juncture, Australia’s Commonwealth Solar Observatory expanded its portfolio from primarily studying solar phenomena to conducting stellar and extragalactic research. Subsequently, in the 1950s and 1960s, astronomy gradually became taught and researched in Australian universities. However, most scientific publications from this era of growth and discovery have no country of affiliation in their header information, making it hard to find the Australian astronomy articles from this period. In 2014, we used the then-new Astrophysics Data System (ADS) tool Bumblebee to overcome this challenge and track down the Australian-led astronomy papers published during the quarter of a century after World War II, from 1945 until the lunar landing in 1969. This required knowledge of the research centres and facilities operating at the time, which are briefly summarised herein. Based on citation counts—an objective, universally-used measure of scientific impact—we report on the Australian astronomy articles which had the biggest impact. We have identified the top-ten most-cited papers, and thus also their area of research, from five consecutive time-intervals across that blossoming quarter-century of astronomy. Moreover, we have invested a substantial amount of time researching and providing a small tribute to each of the 62 scientists involved, including several trail-blazing women. Furthermore, we provide an extensive list of references and point out many interesting historical connections and anecdotes.
Highlights
Inspired by Toner Stevenson’s article [1] in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia1 regarding women’s role in constructing Australia’s “Astrographic Catalogue” [3], we identify other big-impact astronomy publications from Australia’s past while using this as an opportunity to showcase additional women who contributed to the
Continuing Australia’s long tradition of exploring the southern skies, in 1969 we encounter Lindsey Fairfield Smith, who mapped the positions of many southern Wolf-Rayet stars, and Betty ‘Louise’ Webster, who mapped the positions of numerous southern planetary nebulae around aging stars
Having headquartered CSIRO’s Division of Radiophysics and their Division of Physics—and trained many of their staff—The University of Sydney was well placed to expand into astronomy and astrophysics
Summary
Inspired by Toner Stevenson’s article [1] in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia regarding women’s role in constructing Australia’s “Astrographic Catalogue” [3], we identify other big-impact astronomy publications from Australia’s past while using this as an opportunity to showcase additional women who contributed to the. Continuing Australia’s long tradition of exploring the southern skies, in 1969 we encounter Lindsey Fairfield Smith, who mapped the positions of many southern Wolf-Rayet stars, and Betty ‘Louise’ Webster, who mapped the positions of numerous southern planetary nebulae around aging stars.3 From this same quarter-century, the most cited astronomy paper from Australia and the world pertains to the “initial mass function” of stars. A concluding summary reflecting on the astronomers, including the female astronomers encountered their work, and the facilities which enabled much of that work, is provided, along with connections to the present This project was a substantial undertaking and hopefully represents a detailed yet concise, unbiased view of Australia’s astronomical endeavours during the quarter-century after World War II, which have had the biggest impact in the scientific literature. It is, not a complete picture of Australia’s astronomical activities during this time, and readers may enjoy delving further into the topic through the many enjoyable books we have listed in Appendix A
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