Jodrell Bank radio telescope
The 250-ft (76-m) dish at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, was the world’s first large radio telescope. When opened in 1957 it became an internationally
recognized symbol of modern astronomy. It was the subject of Great Britain’s first astro stamp, in 1966, and I have found it on stamps from six other countries, as pictured
below. Known since 1987 as the Lovell Telescope, the big dish has been upgraded
and refurbished over the years, ensuring its continued successful operation. It
is now the base station of a nationwide network of radio telescopes in England
called e-MERLIN.
Haiti, 1958
Although crudely drawn, it is clear that this radio telescope is modelled on
Jodrell Bank. It featured as part of an International Geophysical Year
commemorative set released by Haiti in 1958 and is the earliest representation
of the big dish on stamps.
Stanley Gibbons nos. 581, 585
Hungary, 1965
The unmistakable structure of the Jodrell Bank dish appeared on this stamp from
a Hungarian set issued in 1965 to mark the International Years of the Quiet Sun
(IQSY), a follow-up to the International Geophysical Year. Whereas the IGY
occurred at a time of high solar activity, the IQSY was timed to coincide with
solar minimum, in 1964–65. Above the radio telescope is a rather crude chart of the northern polar sky.
Stanley Gibbons no. 2059
Ascension Island, 1971
Ascension, an island in the South Atlantic, included the Jodrell Bank dish in a
set depicting the evolution of space travel, although this illustration seems
to confuse its role in radio astronomy with that of satellite tracking and
communications. The wording on this stamp calls it the world’s largest radio telescope. At the time the stamp was issued it remained the
world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope (its title was taken the following
year by the 100-m dish at Effelsberg, Germany), but it had already been
overtaken by the much larger unsteerable 305-m dish at Arecibo, Puerto Rico,
which opened in 1963.
Stanley Gibbons no. 143
Barbuda, 1986
The Caribbean island of Barbuda showed the Jodrell Bank dish on one of its
Halley’s Comet stamps issued in 1986. The contrast with the traditional refracting
telescope in the background may have been intended to convey the advances in
astronomy since the previous appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1910.
Stanley Gibbons no. 866
Liechtenstein, 1988
In 1988 Liechtenstein produced a pair of stamps on that year’s Europa theme of Transport and Communications. For the Communications stamp
they depicted the dish aerial at Jodrell Bank, receiving or emitting a string
of data. The Transport stamp showed a magnetically levitated monorail train.
Stanley Gibbons no. 931
Tanzania, 1993
In 1993 Tanzania produced a commemorative set for the 450th anniversary of the
death of Nicolaus Copernicus which included this realistic depiction of Jodrell
Bank. The Gibbons Simplified catalogue relegates this set to the Appendix for
Tanzania, a fate reserved for stamps deemed not to have been issued for normal
postal use. Consequently it has no SG number, although the number in the Scott
catalogue (US) is 1034.
