He was born in 1930 in Balaklava, in South Australia, studied Physics at the University of Adelaide, and became a researcher in the Radiophysics Division of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Sydney. In 1953 he moved to Manchester, took his doctorate at Manchester University, and remained there for the rest of his professional life as Professor of Radioastronomy. From 1987 to 1989 he was President of the Royal Astronomical Society.

During his professional career he contributed with his researches to the serious questioning of the Steady State Universe. His observations supported the alternative model, which the majority of the scientific community now accepts: the Big Bang model.

In the framework of the historic collaboration between his group and the IAC team, dating from the 1980’s, extremely sensitive radio receivers were developed to measure the cosmic background radiation arising from the earliest epoch of the universe. This instrumentation paved the way for the development of instruments for satellites, such as Planck, in which Rod took a very active part, until the last moment, coordinating numerous research groups.

Rod participated in the XIX Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics on the subject of the cosmic background radiation. The interview which he gave on that occasion can be seen on http://www.iac.es/divulgacion.php?op1=16&id=499&lang=en.

Also a video paying tribute to him can be seen here.

This radiastronomer was a great master from whom all those of us who worked with him learned a great deal. But above all Rod was a person with exceptional human qualities. Without any doubt we will greatly miss him.

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)