National Radio Astronomy Observatory history

On October 17, 1957 the groundbreaking and dedication of the Green Bank site took place.

The volume also relates the entry of computers into radio astronomy, and reprints the one-page memo from 1960 which laid out the protocol for use of the new “single roll of magnetic tape” just acquired by the Observatory.

First unambiguous discovery of a radio recombination line (1965)

One of the most famous radio astronomy discoveries occurred in 1967 when a young graduate student named Jocelyn Bell noticed a strange signal in a printout from a radio telescope she helped to build.

First detection of Zeeman splitting (1968)

First organic polyatomic molecule ever detected in the interstellar medium (1969)

First long-chain molecule detected (HC3N) (1971)

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an array of 66 12-metre (39-foot) radio telescopes near San Pedro de Atacama on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile at an altitude of 5,000 metres (16,000 feet), is planned for completion in 2012. Its replacement, the Green Bank Telescope, which entered operation in 2000, has an aperture of 100 metres (330 feet) and is one of the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescopes.

First detection of a pre-biotic molecules in space (2008)

Kenwolf, Lenora G., "A social and political history of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, WV" (2010). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an array of 66 12-metre (39-foot) radio telescopes near San Pedro de Atacama on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile at an altitude of 5,000 metres (16,000 feet), is planned for completion in 2012.

Following a major overhaul completed in early 2013, the VLA provides one to three orders of magnitude improvement over all previous performance aspects except angular resolution.

First detection of a chiral (handed) molecule in space (2016)