<sod>An amateur radio operator, [[Grote Reber]], was one of the pioneers of what became known as [[radio astronomy]].  He built the first parabolic "dish" radio telescope, a {{convert|9|m|ft|0}} in diameter) in his back yard in Wheaton, Illinois in 1937. He repeated Jansky's pioneering work, identifying the Milky Way as the first off-world radio source, and he went on to conduct the first sky survey at [[VHF|very high]] radio frequencies, discovering other radio sources.  The rapid [[History of radar|development of radar]] during [[World War II]] created technology which was applied to radio astronomy after the war, and radio astronomy became a branch of astronomy, with universities and research institutes constructing large radio telescopes.<ref>Sullivan, W.T. (1984). ''The Early Years of Radio Astronomy''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-25485-X </ref><eod>
<sod>An amateur radio operator, [[Grote Reber]], was one of the pioneers of what became known as [[radio astronomy]].  He built the first parabolic "dish" radio telescope, a {{convert|9|m|ft|0}} in diameter) in his back yard in Wheaton, Illinois in 1937. He repeated Jansky's pioneering work, identifying the Milky Way as the first off-world radio source, and he went on to conduct the first sky survey at [[VHF|very high]] radio frequencies, discovering other radio sources.  The rapid [[History of radar|development of radar]] during [[World War II]] created technology which was applied to radio astronomy after the war, and radio astronomy became a branch of astronomy, with universities and research institutes constructing large radio telescopes.<ref>Sullivan, W.T. (1984). ''The Early Years of Radio Astronomy''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-25485-X</ref><eod>