He entered the field of radio astronomy, working at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, after war service in military radar research. Hewish made both practical and theoretical advances in the observation and exploitation of the apparent scintillations of radio sources due to their radiation impinging upon plasma.
This led him to propose, and secure funding for, the construction of a large array radio telescope at Cambridge in order to conduct a high resolution radio sky survey. In the course of this project, one of his graduate students, Jocelyn Bell, first noticed the radio source which was ultimately recognised as the first pulsar.
The paper announcing the discovery had five authors, Hewish's name being listed first, Bell's second. The Nobel award to Hewish without the inclusion of Bell as a co-recipient was controversial, and was roundly condemned by Hewish's fellow astronomer Fred Hoyle. Others however have noted that the prize was given to Ryle and Hewish for their work across the field of radio-astronomy as a whole, with particular mention of Ryle's work on aperture-synthesis, and Hewish's on pulsars.
AnthonyHewish was working on a method for identifying quasars through a discovery in the mid 1960s that quasars scintillate (fluctuate in detected intensity of their radio emissions) more than less compact radio sources.
Hewish believed them to be man-made, as with a gap of just 3 seconds the pulses seemed too close to be natural.
AnthonyHewish was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for the discovery of pulsars, along with Martin Ryle (also of Cambridge) for his work with radiotelescopes and particularly aperture synthesis.
Hewish made both practical and theoretical advances in the observation and exploitation of the apparent scintillations of radio sources due to their radiation impinging upon plasma.
The Nobel award to Ryle and Hewish without the inclusion of Bell as a co-recipient was controversial, and was roundly condemned by Hewish's fellow astronomer Fred Hoyle.
Hewish was professor of radio astronomy at the Cavendish Laboratory from 1971 to 1989, and head of the MRAO from 1982 to 1988.
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