Sydney Presentation of the 2006 Grote Reber Medal

Background
The Grote Reber Medal is awarded annually for innovative lifetime contributions to radio astronomy, and commemorates the pioneering work of Grote Reber, the world's first radio astronomer. The award of the medal has been made possible through funds provided by the Grote Reber Foundation, with the inaugural medal being awarded in 2005 to Professor W.C. Erickson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Tasmania.

2006 Award Recipient, Emeritus Professor Bernard Yarnton Mills
The 2006 award to Emeritus Professor Bernard Y. Mills is in recognition of his numerous innovative and pioneering contributions to radio astronomy. These include the development of the cross-type telescope, subsequently known as the 'Mills Cross' at Fleurs, west of Sydney, in 1953. With this instrument he and his colleagues undertook the first detailed radio survey of the southern sky, which had a major impact in establishing Australia as a leader int he then new science of radio astronomy. In 1960 Bernard Mills took on the job of constructing Sydney University's 408 MHz one-mile Molonglo Cross telescope, situated in Bungendore near Canberra. This telescope proved to be one of the most successful pulsar discovery telescopes, and has since been upgraded to operate as a synthesis radio telescope, successfully surveying the southern sky. This mature instrument is now experiencing yet another new lease on life with upgrades making it a prototype for the next generation radio telescope, the SKA.