Editing Jodrell Bank Observatory (section)

== Research ==
[[File:Jodrell Bank Control Building.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|The main building at Jodrell Bank Observatory]]
{{main|Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics}}
The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, of which the Observatory is a part, is one of the largest astrophysics research groups in the UK.<ref name="physics_researchgroups">{{cite web| url=http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/research/groups/| title=Research groups: School of Physics and Astronomy| publisher=The University of Manchester| access-date=2007-08-05| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818051757/http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/research/groups/| archive-date=18 August 2007}}</ref> About half of the research of the group is in the area of radio astronomy – including research into [[pulsar]]s, the [[Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation]], [[gravitational lens]]es, [[active galaxy|active galaxies]] and [[astrophysical maser]]s. The group also carries out research at different wavelengths, looking into [[star formation]] and evolution, [[planetary nebula]] and [[astrochemistry]].<ref name="research">{{cite web | url=http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/research/ | title=Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics Research | access-date=2007-08-05|publisher=Jodrell Bank Observatory}}</ref>

The first director of Jodrell Bank was [[Bernard Lovell]], who established the observatory in 1945. He was succeeded in 1980 by [[Francis Graham-Smith|Sir Francis Graham-Smith]], followed by [[Rod Davies|Professor Rod Davies]] around 1990 and [[Andrew Lyne|Professor Andrew Lyne]] in 1999.<ref name="lyne_appointment">{{cite web | url=http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/news/1999/director/dir_nral.html | title=Director of the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, Jodrell Bank | access-date=2007-05-29 | publisher=Jodrell Bank Observatory | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720152015/http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/news/1999/director/dir_nral.html | archive-date=20 July 2011}}</ref> [[Phil Diamond|Professor Phil Diamond]] took over the role on 1 October 2006, at the time when the [[Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics]] was formed. Prof Ralph Spencer was Acting Director during 2009 and 2010. In October 2010, Prof. Albert Zijlstra became Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. Professor Lucio Piccirillo was the Director of the Observatory from Oct 2010 to Oct 2011. Prof. Simon Garrington is the JBCA Associate Director for the Jodrell Bank Observatory. In 2016, Prof. Michael Garrett was appointed as the inaugural Sir Bernard Lovell chair of Astrophysics and Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. As Director JBCA, Prof. Garrett also has overall responsibility for Jodrell Bank Observatory.

In May 2017 Jodrell Bank entered into a partnership with the [[Breakthrough Listen]] initiative and will share information with Jodrell Bank's team, who wish to conduct an independent SETI search via its 76-m radio telescope and e-MERLIN array.

There is an active development programme researching and constructing telescope receivers and instrumentation. The observatory has been involved in the construction of several [[Cosmic Microwave Background]] experiments, including the [[Tenerife Experiment]], which ran from the 1980s to 2000, and the amplifiers and cryostats for the [[Very Small Array]].<ref name="vsa_cryostats">{{cite web | url=http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/tech/technology/vsa.html | title=JBO—VSA Receivers | access-date=2007-06-23|publisher=Jodrell Bank Observatory}}</ref> It has also constructed the front-end modules of the 30 and 44&nbsp;GHz receivers for the [[Planck (spacecraft)|Planck spacecraft]].<ref name="jb_bigbang">{{cite web | url=http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/booklet/BigBang.html | title=Jodrell Bank—Observing the Big Bang | access-date=2007-06-10|publisher=Jodrell Bank Observatory}}</ref> Receivers were also designed at Jodrell Bank for the [[Parkes Observatory|Parkes Telescope]] in Australia.<ref name="jodrellbank_anatomy">{{cite web | url=http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/lovell/anatomy.html | title=Jodrell Bank—Anatomy of a Radio Telescope | access-date=2007-06-10 | publisher=Jodrell Bank Observatory | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016100922/http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/lovell/anatomy.html | archive-date=16 October 2008}}</ref>