1905-1950. US radio engineer, who discovered
that the Milky Way galaxy emanates radio
waves; he did not follow up his discovery,
but it marked the birth of radioastronomy.
Born in Norman, Oklahoma, he joined Bell
Telephone Laboratories, New Jersey 1928,
where he investigated causes of static that
created interference on radio telephone
calls. Jansky found that the centre of the
Milky Way was giving out radio waves; he did
not follow up his discovery, but it marked
the birth of radio astronomy. The unit of
signal strength in radio astronomy, the
jansky (Jy), is equal to 10^-26 watts per
square metre per hertz.