Radio astronomy was born during the Second World War, but as this book explains, the history of early Dutch radio astronomy is in several respects rather anomalous in comparison to the development of radio astronomy in other countries. The author describes how these very differences led the Netherlands to become one of the world leaders in radio astronomy. Dominated by the Leiden astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort, the field embarked on an era of success, and to this day, the country still holds a leading position. To tell this story, the book focuses on three key events in the period 1940-1970, namely the construction of the radio telescopes in Kootwijk (1948), in Dwingeloo (1956), and in Westerbork (1970). These projects show that Dutch radio astronomers must not be seen as merely scientists, but also as strategic lobbyists, networkers and organizers in a specific political and economic context. It was in the process of planning, designing and constructing these instruments that the interests of the astronomers, industrial partners, politicians and lobby groups merged to create today's existing research centers for radio astronomy.

Proceedings of a Symposium held in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands, September 24-26, 1984 in honour of Adriaan Blaauw on the occasion of his 70th birthday

An investigation of certain discrete radio sources, including the experimental measurement of their flux densities and a theoretical interpretation of their spectra, has been carried out for the 20-40 MHz frequency range. The observations were made at 22.30, 26.70, 33.45 and 38.75 MHz using the 1000-ft radio telescope of the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory. Descriptions of the observations and the data analysis are given, together with a discussion of the limitations imposed on the measurements by the ionosphere and the radio telescope. The flux densities of eight discrete radio sources at the four operating frequencies, measured relative to Taurus A, are presented. A detailed error analysis was carried out; anticipated errors are given for each flux density value. (Author).