Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell has died
aged 98. Sir Bernard, who was born near Bristol and studied in
the city, was the founder of University of Manchester's Jodrell
Bank Observatory. Jodrell Bank and the surrounding Cheshire
countryside is dominated by the Lovell Radio Telescope, which
was conceived by Sir Bernard. Professor Brian Cox, who knew Sir
Bernard, said he was "an inquisitive scientist all the way". A
book of condolence has been opened at the observatory's
Discovery Centre. Sir Bernard was born in Oldland Common,
Gloucestershire, in 1913 and studied at the University of
Bristol before joining the University of Manchester's Department
of Physics in 1936. During World War II he led a team developing
radar technology, for which he was later awarded an OBE.
Following the war, he returned to the university and set about
planning the observatory. His iconic 76m (249ft) telescope was
completed in 1957. Within days of it becoming operational, it
tracked the rocket that carried Sputn