The Radio Sky: How We Learned to Capture Cosmic Radio Waves – Dr. Diana Hannikainen

The Transylvania County Library, the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, and the Charlotte Amateur Astronomy Club are bringing astronomer Diana Hannikainen to Brevard. Hannikainen is the newly appointed Editor in Chief at Sky & Telescope magazine. Her talk, “The Radio Sky: How We Learned to Capture Cosmic Radio Waves” will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in the Rogow Room of the Transylvania County Library. The library is located at 212 S. Gaston St. in Brevard.

In her talk, Dr. Hannikainen will trace the history of the development of radio telescopes, from Karl Jansky’s early experiments to today’s ambitious plans for a telescope on the Moon. Along the way, she’ll touch upon some of the remarkable discoveries brought to us by radio astronomy.  Dr. Hannikainen studied for her BSc in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and then moved to Finland, in part to explore her Finnish roots. While there, she embarked on graduate studies at the University of Helsinki, and received an MSc followed by a PhD in Astrophysics, the latter in conjunction with the University of Sydney in Australia. The subject of her PhD thesis was multiwavelength observations (X-ray, radio) of microquasars, a topic she focused on throughout her time in research. In 2017, she switched careers and moved to Cambridge, MA, to take up the position of Observing Editor at Sky & Telescope. Her new role as Editor in Chief makes her the first woman at the helm of Sky & Telescope in its 83-year history.