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7-23-2004 'Big Ear' Radio Telescope Designer Dies
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A former scientist and professor at Ohio State University who designed and built the "Big Ear," a huge radio telescope that listened for radio signals from outer space, has died.
John Kraus was 94. He died Sunday at his home in nearby Delaware.
The "Big Ear" installed in 1965 near the Perkins Observatory south of Delaware was as large as three football fields and recorded more than 20,000 deep-space radio sources, or quasars, by 1972. It was dismantled six years ago.
Kraus worked extensively with antennas and electromagnetics, making great strides in the electrical-engineering field during his life.
"People like John Kraus made Ohio State University a world-renowned institution," said Volakis, professor and director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at the university.
Kraus also is known for inventing the helical antenna, a corkscrew-shaped antenna that is used in global-positioning satellites.
"The helical antenna is to my father as the Model T is to Henry Ford and the electric light bulb is to Thomas Edison," said Kraus' son, John Jr. of Durham, N.H.
He said his father also was a well-known author of textbooks. Some have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese.
Kraus was preceded in death by his wife, Alice Nelson Kraus. Besides son John Kraus Jr., he is survived by a second son, Nelson H. Kraus, and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held July 31 in the Benes Room of the Campus Center of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A former scientist and professor at Ohio State University who designed and built the "Big Ear," a huge radio telescope that listened for radio signals from outer space, has died.
John Kraus was 94. He died Sunday at his home in nearby Delaware.
The "Big Ear" installed in 1965 near the Perkins Observatory south of Delaware was as large as three football fields and recorded more than 20,000 deep-space radio sources, or quasars, by 1972. It was dismantled six years ago.
Kraus worked extensively with antennas and electromagnetics, making great strides in the electrical-engineering field during his life.
"People like John Kraus made Ohio State University a world-renowned institution," said Volakis, professor and director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at the university.
Kraus also is known for inventing the helical antenna, a corkscrew-shaped antenna that is used in global-positioning satellites.
"The helical antenna is to my father as the Model T is to Henry Ford and the electric light bulb is to Thomas Edison," said Kraus' son, John Jr. of Durham, N.H.
He said his father also was a well-known author of textbooks. Some have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese.
Kraus was preceded in death by his wife, Alice Nelson Kraus. Besides son John Kraus Jr., he is survived by a second son, Nelson H. Kraus, and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held July 31 in the Benes Room of the Campus Center of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware.
