Mills, Bernard Yarnton

Mills was born in Manly, NSW. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1940 as BSc, in 1942 as BE, in 1950 as ME and in 1959 as DScEng. He was awarded the Lyle Medal for Physics and Mathematics by the Australian Academy of Sciences in 1957, elected Fellow of the Academy in 1959 and Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1963; in 1976, be became a companion of the Order of Australia. The University of Sydney appointed Mills to a readership in Physics in 1960. From 1942, Mills had worked with CSIRO Division of Radiophysics. During World War II he developed radar systems, and later, particle accelerators. In 1949, he entered the field of radioastronomy, investigating radio sources and the structure of galaxies. In the School of Physics, Mills built up a radio astronomy group; they constructed a giant "Mills Cross", a very successful type of radio telescope which Mills had developed in the CSIRO. In 1965, Mills was invited to apply for the Chair of Astrophysics.