Science Journal October 1966

Science Journal October 1966

Science Journal was published between 1965 and 1971, after which time it merged with the New Scientist – still running today, New Scientist is a non-peer-reviewed international science magazine. This is a special issue titled ‘The New Universe’ published in October 1966.

The front cover shows an image of the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. At the time of publishing it was the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. It has been chosen for the cover as it “typified the expensive equipment needed by modern ‘big’ astronomy” at that period. The telescope has provided data on, among other things, quasars and galactic magnetic fields, which are both the subjects of articles in the journal.

The journal contains an introduction by Professor Fred Hoyle, who is best known for his work on nuclear reactions in stars and the part he played in developing the steady state theory of the universe. The steady state theory had some popularity in the mid twentieth century but is now rejected by most scientists, in favour of the Big Bang theory. Hoyle’s article talks about the unpredictable developments in astronomy over that previous two decades and emphasises the importance of investigating the universe to make better provision for the future.