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The Establishment of the Anglo-Australian Telescope: an Historical Case Study in Australian Science Policy Roger Trevor Garland University of Wollongong

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The Establishment of the Anglo-Australian Telescope: an Historical Case Study in Australian Science Policy Roger Trevor Garland University of Wollongong University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1987 The establishment of the Anglo-Australian telescope: an historical case study in Australian science policy Roger Trevor Garland University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Garland, Roger Trevor, The se tablishment of the Anglo-Australian telescope: an historical case study in Australian science policy, Master of Arts (Hons.) thesis, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong, 1987. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/2232 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN TELESCOPE. AN HISTORICAL CASE STUDY IN AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE POLICY. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS (HONOURS) from THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by ROGER TREVOR GARLAND Bachelor of Science (University of Sydney) . DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1987 i CONTENTS Contents i Abbreviations iii Abstract iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 The trend towards a large optical telescope in Australia Notes and references 5 CHAPTER 2 AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY AND SCIENCE 6 2. 1 What is Australian astronomy ? 1 2. 1 . 1 Background 1 2. 1 . 2 Funding 13 2.2 Australian optical astronomy and 16 the high civilization principle. 2. 2. 1 Sky watching 16 2.2.2 Astronomy in Australia 18 1788-1900 2.2.3 Australian Astronomy in 24 the 20th century 2.3 Australian science policy in the 41 1950s and 1960s. Notes and references 47 CHAPTER 3 THE ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN TELESCOPE 52 PROJECT 1950s-DECEMBER 1962 3. 1 Introduction 52 3.1.1 The need for a large 52 southern telescope 3.1.2 A big science project 54 3.2 Advocacy, debate and delay; 63 trying to get the show on the road Notes and references 100 ii CHAPTER 4 THE ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN TELESCOPE 105 PROJECT JANUA1V- 1963-0CTOBER 197 4 4 • 1 Procrastination, further debate 106 and alternative proposals January 1963 - May 1967 4.2 Organisation, resolution and 148 construction - building the telescope May 1967 - October 1974 Notes and references 159 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 168 Notes and references 183 APPENDIXES 184 Appendix I The players 185 Appendix II Prominent committees 194 Appendix III Key events 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY 204 Manuscripts 205 Published material 209 iii ABBREVIATIONS AAO Anglo-Australian Observatory AAT Anglo-Australian Telescope Academy Australian Academy of Science ANU Australian National University ANZAAS Australia and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science APGC Astronomy Policy and Grants Committee (UK ) [within the SRC's Astronomy, Space and Radio Board] BCSO British Commonwealth Southern Observatory CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization DSIR Department of Science and Industrial Research (UK) ESQ European Southern Observatory JPC Joint Policy Committee Royal Royal Society of London (UK) Society SRC Science Research Council (UK) iv ABSTRACT This thesis examines the establishment of the Anglo­ Australian Telescope as a case study in Australian science policy. An historical overview of Australian astronomy is developed, followed by an historical account of the telescope project. The latter forms the major part of the work. Attention is paid to the arguments put forward by the astronomical community to justify funding. The role of the Australian Academy of Science as an elite science institution in the decision making process is examined. Also considered is the impact in the 1960s of emerging government science policy machinery. The entrenchment of a high civilisation principle used to rationalise the professional activities of astronomers is also investigated. Cone lus ions are drawn about the complex nature of decision making processes, how decision making in science was affected by a changing context of science policy formation, and the likelihood of a joint astronomy project being undertaken in Australia in the 1980s. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ":4 2 "astronomers are a queer and quarrelsome lot and unblushingly push their own interests." Marcus Oliphant [1] CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The trend towards a large optical telescope in Australia The quest for larger and larger optical telescopes in Australia has featured regularly in Australian astronomical work. From the establishment of the first astronomical observatory by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane in Parramatta in 1821, requests were made to improve facilities by increasing telescopic power. Over the years, such facilities were indeed developed, firstly by the colonies and later by the Federal Government. In the 1950s, the cyclical claims by astronomers for bigger and better telescopic power were again made. This time, the request was for a major telescope of gigantic optical proportions. However, it was not until the mid- 1960s that funds were made available for a truly major venture and only then after nearly ten years of active lobbying. The outcome was a joint Anglo-Australian facility. This thesis is located within the field of science and technology studies. In developing a perspective on science policy formation it constructs an historical account of the process followed in the establishment of a 3 large optical telescope in Australia. Included in this approach is an exploration of some of the political interactions between the institutions, philosophies and individuals involved. The general issues in science policy thus arising relate to: 1. the role of elite scientific groups 2. the development of 'big science' projects 3. competition between nations, scientific disciplines and individuals involving prestige, political expediency and world-views (including a pure science philosophy and the high civilisation principle). While a number of historical accounts of the establishment of the telescope exist [2], there has been little interpretation and analysis of the circumstances that gave rise to support for the project, nor the political interactions underpinning the actions of institutions and individuals involved. Several specific themes emerge relating to the issues listed above. Within the context of broad changes in Australian science policy during the 1950s-1960s these include: 1. the role of the Australian Academy of Science as an elite science institution 4 2. tension between the traditional Australian­ British scientific links in the face of US achievement of a higher scientific status 3. problems of the new large civilian science projects face-to-face with inadequate science policy machinery 4. competition between Australian physical and biological sciences and volatile inter-personal and inter-institutional political relations. This account principally draws upon primary material held in the archives of the Australian Academy of Science, supported by the holdings of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization as well as material held by the Anglo-Australian Observatory, National Library of Australia and Mt Stromlo Observatory library. 5 NOTES AND REFERENCES 1 Le t t er , O1 i p ha n t to Wh i t e , 7 F e b 1 9 5 6 , ( CSI RO S 4 , CZ/226/6 Part 2). 2 Some of these include: S. C. B. Gascoigne, in Australian Astronomy Since World War Two, (unpublished paper dated April 1986). S. C. B. Gascoigne, 'The Anglo-Australian Telescope', reprint from Endeavour, Vol XXXIV, No.123, September 1975. F. Hoyle, The Anglo-Australian Telescope, (University College Cardiff Press, Cardiff, 1982). Bernard Lovell, 'The Early History of the Anglo­ Aus tr a 1 i an 1 5 0-inc h Te 1 es cope ( AAT ) ' , Qu art er 1 y Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol 26, No.4, 1985, pp.393-455. The Anglo-Australian Telescope Board is currently compiling an official history due for release in 1989. 6 CHAPTER 2 AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY AND SCIENCE 7 CHAPTER 2: AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY AND SCIENCE This chapter develops a context for the interpretation of the establishment debate of the Anglo-Australian Telescope. A picture is firstly painted of what astronomy is (2.1), followed by an outline of a history of the science in Australia (2.2). The preservation of the astronomical profession and its funding claims are marked in t hi s history by the entrenchment of the high civilisation principle. Finally, an overview of Austra l i an science policy in the 1950s to 1960s is presented (2.3). From this base, the debate concerning the establishment of the large telescope project itself will then be examined in Chapters 3 and 4. *** 2.1 WHAT IS AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY ? 2.1.1 Background Current astronomical activity in Australia can be divided into private, government and public spheres. In the private domain are the activities of both amateurs and the commercial industry which supplies equipment , software and services. At the governmental level, astronomy is directly sponsored within State and Federal departments in areas such as meteorology, defence and navigation. Government also plays a major role in the public domain through irtdirect funding of astronomy undertaken by institutions such as universities, the 8 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). Members of .the professional community of astronomers are the chief instigators of knowledge production in the science. The activities of amateurs can, from time to time, contribute to the subject's knowledge
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