Bracewell, Ronald Newbold (RN)

Ronald Bracewell is an alumnus of Sydney University where he obtained his BSc on 31 May 1941, BE (Mech and Elec) Hons Class II on 29 May 1943, and his ME (Elec) Hon Class I on 19 June 1948. He received his PHD from the University of Cambridge, UK. In 1992 he was one of the first at Sydney University who received the Alumni Award for Achievement in Community Service. In 1994 he received the IEEE Heinrich Hertz Medal presented for outstanding achievements in electromagnetic waves. He is an Emeritus Professor of Stanford University.

During WW II he was part of the team working in the CSIR Division of Radiophysics located in the Madsen Building. From 1949 to 1954 Bracewell was Senior Research Officer at the Radiophysics Laboratory. He moved to the Astronomy Department of the University of California, Berkeley in 1954 before joining Stanford University in 1955. At Stanford he was appointed the first Lewis M. Terman Professor and Fellow in Electrical Engineering in 1974. While Bracewell retired in 1979, he kept active until his death.

During his time at Sydney University, he was a founding member and became the President of the Oxometrical Society. Bracewell stayed President of the Society until his death. His papers relating to the Oxometrical Society were donated to the University Archives by his son Mark.

For more information, see the Online Archives of California and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

For more details on Bracewell's many achievements please see the many obituaries about him, including Ronald N. Bracewell: an appreciation by A. Richard Thompson and Robert H. Frater, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 151, part 2, 2018, pp. 170 -180. ISSN 0035-9173/18/020170-11 170. Obituary: Ronald N. Bracewell, 1921-2007 by Petrosian, Vahé: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009BAAS...41..566P/abstract Guide to the Ronald Bracewell Papers SC0896, Daniel Hartwig, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, January 2012