The Giant Hogg Horn That Discovered the Big Bang

[@esweet100]

Scott, Thanks for this video. I had the pleasure of working at Crawford Hill in the mid-80s with Bob Wilson as my assistant director. Instead of climbing the management ladder at Bell Labs, he preferred to keep his hand directly in R&D. In addition to managing various wireless communication projects, he and Greq Wright pursued molecular astrophysics in the multi-GHz range using the second off-axis parabolic antenna which you showed. They also worked with a group that setup a small radio telescope at the south polar station (very high and dry) to look at OH molecular clouds. Bob was a great guy to work with, full of ideas, very inquisitive and supportive. Sorry to see the facility in such a sad state of decay. Working there was a highlight in my career. Eric Sweetman

[@robertmandell526]

Better to have been a part of true greatness, now gone, than not to have been there at all. That was Bell Labs.

[@ceejay0137]

I visited this place about ten years ago. The road was blocked by a gate which had a No Admission sign on it. There were lights on in a building nearby so I went into what seemed to be a reception area to find someone to ask if it would be OK to go up and look at the horn. I rang a bell at the desk and waited for several minutes, but no-one appeared. As there wasn’t a fence attached to the gate, I just walked past it and up the hill to find the antenna. It looked to be in slightly better condition than in your video, and it was a real thrill to reach up and touch the end of the horn that made such an epic discovery. It's a terrible shame that such an important place is being so neglected, especially since there’s a plaque saying it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Many other less significant sites have a visitor centre and a gift shop: why not this one?

[@silversrayleigh8980]

not enough dorks i guess

[@rjj102]

6😅😅😅--"cg

[@wurfyy]

That's just how NJ is. It's the worst state for a reason.

[@MrGiXxEr]

@@wurfyy ^This.

[@maartentoors]

@@silversrayleigh8980 You misspelled "Nerds". But yeah. A Shame and a Waste of National Heritage.

[@KB4QAA]

Forty years ago, as a student, I attended a lecture by Penzias on this following his receiving the Nobel Prize. It was fascinating and exciting to hear the story from the actual researcher.

[@jamessutter6700]

I wish I could attend a lecture....

[@mechtheist]

I was at a lecture by him at UT Austin about the same time, it must have been the same lecture tour. It made a big impression on me.

[@laxbro1191]

@@mechtheist kp

[@mechtheist]

@@laxbro1191 Thank you! I have no idea what that means, I was in college in 1978>>I'm old AF. Do you think I have a killer pussy? Or I'm masturbator by sexual preference and remember images of the people I encounter to store in my wank bank for later us? Urban dict on this is full of weird shit. The idea of a wank bank is new to me, I like, great concept.

[@jacksontaylor5708]

Last week I attended a lecture, as a student, from Jim Peebles who received the Nobel Prize in 2019 for his work in cosmology. Cool to see that this has been going on for a long time!

[@andrewharrison8436]

There is a huge gulf between seeing photos and being given a guided tour. So much more memorable - thank you.

[@TrueThanny]

My father was a business accountant who bought antiques at flea markets as a hobby, then later as a business when he retired from accounting. Somewhere around ten years ago, he was selling at a market near the border of NJ and PA, when a guy came up to his table, and they got involved in a conversation. Somehow it came up that he had worked at Bell Labs a while back, and got a Nobel Prize for work on cosmic background radiation. My father had no clue about any of this, but when he relayed the conversation to me, I knew exactly what it was about, and that there were only two people it could be. I showed him pictures of Wilson and Penzias, and it turned out to be the latter. So Nobel-winning physicists like to bum around flea markets just like the rest of us.

[@wmsimpson1960]

I'm guessing that would have been Bob Wilson. He was very much a "regular guy" who remained on the job at Bell Labs as a department head and Director for the rest of his career and was much loved by the people who worked with and for him. Arno Penzias, not so much. The talent we had at Bell Labs in those days was awesome.

[@blueredbrick]

Lovely story, tnx for sharing.

[@nagualdesign]

@@wmsimpson1960 He showed him pictures of Wilson and Penzias, and it turned out to be the latter, meaning his father had met Penzias.

[@leifvejby8023]

You can't get much closer to history!! The closest I've ever been was when our prime minister came barging in into a shop, where I was looking for snacks, to by cigarets.

[@thatguy-art6229]

The antiques dealers I knew were all some sort of cheap hustler and fraud.

[@benfraser9975]

I miss Bell Labs, I used to go there with my dad occasionally on weekends when I was young. We'd walk around and he'd show me all kinds of things they were working on that had never existed in the world before. It was a place of such incredible creativity and possibility. My dad reported to Penzias for a number of years and his name was always mentioned at the dinner table but it wasn't until much later that I knew about his work. Coincidentally, my uncle was on the Uinx team there and wrote the Bourne shell. I wish I could have truly understood just how special that place was and what giants walked it's halls.

[@KaiserCoaster]

The first floor of the building is open to the public if you want to go back. It's sort of a mini-mall. It's called Bell Works now

[@benfraser9975]

@@KaiserCoaster Oh wow, I had no idea and will do that. Thank you. The mini-mall aspect will probably make me rather sad, as will the whole experience, but sounds worth doing. Thanks again.

[@KaiserCoaster]

@@benfraser9975 They're locally owned stores and food spots, so at least they're not like big chains. The Holmdel Public Library is also in the building now

[@Robert08010]

Bell Labs: The Disney Land of Science

[@eekee6034]

@Ben Fraser: Oh, I'm jealous! XD I'd miss the place too, if I'd had your experience. For years, I used Plan 9 From Bell Labs; the operating system Thompson and Ritchie designed as a successor to Unix. It wasn't quite the right system for me, but I admire their goal of making shell scripting easy and very powerful.

[@RichardSenn98]

Why are radio astronomy antennas always some of the coolest looking things in the world. They're up there with art deco trains.

[@RCAvhstape]

Check out Greenbank Observatory in the middle of nowhere West Virginia for some cool radio telescopes, including one really cool art deco design.

[@andrewkvk1707]

Because they literally look out of this world.

[@thatguy-art6229]

THAT ANTENNA WAS DESIGNED AS A MICROWAVE ANTENNA.

[@user-hv6wb5gk8p]

Check out the Sofia telescope. It's literally mounted on an airplane. Like, an airliner opens its side mid flight to do space observations from the high layers of the atmosphere.

[@Cepheid_]

@@andrewkvk1707 What an astronomical comment. Also, Nice double entendre.

[@Deamon93IT]

A shame that such a historic place has been completely abandoned

[@silversrayleigh8980]

The property is still maintained actually .. nobody's beatin down the door to take a look.. Unless your name is Scott Manley flysafe .. lol

[@nicewhenearnedrudemostlyel489]

An* jk lol =D Yeah, for that reason i'm glad he and others bring these things to the digital medium. If people let it go back to mother earth gaia, at least we'll have some reference material. until we let youtube fall at least.

[@dvduwu]

@@silversrayleigh8980 Yeah I live in Holmdel, actually right across the street from Bell Labs. The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex has been renovated into an Office complex of sorts, where the first floor is public space with shops and such. Crawford Hill has similarly been made a park with memorials and everything.

[@silversrayleigh8980]

@@dvduwu Petition for a plaque to be placed at the sight with an audio history of the dear ol Hog Horn :)

[@Bow-to-the-absurd]

The west is in a crisis.

[@junkmail4613]

Lived in New Jersey my whole (73Year) life. Five years ago, I went to Holmdel and walked completely around that horn, and Scott, seeing your video, I've just realized that you and I "HAVE (as of this video) ACTUALLY CROSSED PATHS," I knew you'd be interested. Amazing how in life we cross paths with famous people in our past and cross paths with famous people in our own futures as well. My daughter (from New Jersey) learned Swedish in New Your City, traveled to Sweden, met relatives there she never expected to see, swung past and visited "Stone Henge" in England, and found there unbeknownst to us where my grandfather (deceased 30 years) had 92 years ago, carved his name and initials in a stone of "Stone Henge." Small world isn't it. Next time you're "at the horn in Holmdel" I'll bring you a coffee. all right? How do you want it, "Light and sweet?" I'll make sure it's ready for ya!

[@robertbutsch1802]

This is actually one of the strangest and most fascinating stories in science. Penzias’s and Wison’s day job was evaluation of the horn for use in the Telstar communications satellite project. It was in this capacity that they saw the nuisance unexplainable noise. They didn’t know about CMB predictions by Dicke and his group, or about scientists in the Soviet Union who had rediscovered the much earlier work of Gamow and his group where the mathematical prediction of the CMB was buried in the details. The Dicke group in turn didn’t know about Gamow’s work. The Soviet scientists did think that the Holmdel horn was probably the best radio telescope in the world to try to detect the CMB but weren’t in a position to do anything about it. Dicke and his colleagues didn’t know about the Holmdel horn, only about thirty miles away from them and carried on trying to develop an instrument to detect the CMB. The situation was described by Timothy Ferris in his excellent “The Red Limit” as “...a perfect tripod of ignorance.” Eventually Bernard Burke, who knew of the Dicke group’s work and of Penzias’s and Wilson’s noise problems, put two and two together and suggested that Dicke and Penzias and Wison ought to maybe get together and compare notes.

[@mechtheist]

That story has long fascinated me also, back to when attended a lecture by Penzias in the late 70's. Much later, when I read about Gamow et al's work and that of Dicke's group, it kinda puzzled me about the weird way the Nobel Committee operates. P&W basically fell into their discovery by accident, they did good work eliminating terrestrial origin, but that's hardly groundbreaking, they didn't figure out what was happening, they learned it from Dicke and all of them were way later then Gamow, Alpher, and Herman. BUT, they can only give the prize to a maximum of 3 individuals, which sucks for situations like this.

[@jeffk8019]

@@mechtheist Yes this is a fascinating story and I've also been interested in it for years. As the story goes, when P&W figured out what they might be measuring and found out about Dicke's group, they called Dicke who at the time was in his office with other scientists deciding their next steps in detecting the CMB. When Dicke got off the phone, he somewhat calmly told the scientists something like "well boys, we've just been scooped". That must have sucked. Yeah, how the Nobel is awarded is unfair in many cases.

[@marcuswardle3180]

Interesting about the Telstar satellite! My father used to work as a Sound Engineer for the BBC here in the UK. He was part of the team that received the signal from Telstar, as it crossed over the Atlantic, and from that split into the audio (his part) and video for broadcasting. I still have, somewhere (!), pictures of the test signals that were 'beamed' across. These would have been the very first television pictures broadcast from the USA to the UK and Europe. I believe he worked out of Goonhilly Down in Cornwall in the UK.

[@sonpopco-op9682]

It is unfortunate they didnt just do some SCIENCE and discover the 3.7k signal is exactly what is emitted by atmospheric water. DUH

[@wmsimpson1960]

You're in my neck of the woods. I worked at Bell Labs Holmdel as a physics research associate for 15 years during the 80s and 90s. It's all gone now, but at least the history remains.

[@nealmcb]

I was very lucky in 1977 to get a personal tour of the famous antenna from Robert Wilson, the year before they got the Nobel Prize. I was a summer intern in Bill Ninke's CS research lab (the home the last Research version of Unix: the "32/V" port to the Dec Vax) at Bell Labs, Holmdel. I've always remembered his story about cleaning out the pigeon poop. It's a good reminder of the importance of not being too proud to do what it takes to pursue a worthy goal. You've done a great job of presenting the background, story and current status of this amazing site!

[@michaellearmonth3412]

I remember seeing Echo 2 in the sky soon after sunset several times in 1964. Guidance when and where to look was published in the local newspaper and my father was the first to spot it and pointed it out to me and the rest of my family. It was as bright as any of the brightest stars in the sky. I was 13-years-old at the time.

[@Aengus42]

@@GeeBee135 I love that evening warmth from the smooth paving slabs in bare feet! They feel almost like they're soft. That's a great memory of a famous satellite. I was born in 64 so i missed the early ones.

[@LemonLadyRecords]

@@GeeBee135 I saw Echo 1, too, at age 7. My family gathered in the back yard, still a vivid memory. And Telstar 1 in 1962 (remember the instrumental pop song for it?).

[@boots_n_coots]

Yo Gary! I also remember seeing Echo in summer 1960. Very bright and moving fast, impossible to miss. Say Hi to Ellen for me! (Yes the T is for Tom)

[@The_budgetking]

@@GeeBee135 your description is no nice

[@richb313]

Thanks Scott for keeping alive the various scientific discoveries that are foundational to our current understanding of the Universe and it's beginning and the realization that it will also end.

[@thatguy-art6229]

DRIBBLE

[@richb313]

@@thatguy-art6229 Why?

[@jeromebirth2693]

@@thatguy-art6229 Gators gonna Gate 🐊

[@maartentoors]

7:42 I truly believe in 'serendipity'. Imagine the odds if they would have: 1- Did their thesis elsewhere 2- The Hogg Horn could/would have been less sensitive 3- Arno and Robert would have kept silent thinking there was something wrong with their calculations 4- Arno and Robert would have continued their research regardless (the dish WAS sensitive enough to receive satellite communication) This must be archived under 'serendipity'.

[@CarlosAM1]

Wonder how many big discoveries remain undiscovered because of small seemingly uninportant decisions like that

[@maartentoors]

@@CarlosAM1 We have the infinite no. of monkeys with typewriters to blame for that..

[@maartentoors]

@@CarlosAM1 Sorry, my last remark was (sort of) a joke, the point being (for me) was; serendipity=inevitability. Just like you and me being here is inevitable/serendipitous. Point/case is: If our visor is Open/Broad enough we can use our Combined Discoveries to open up soo much! (ergo serendipity). I really think so.

[@jeffk8019]

@@CarlosAM1 It also makes me wonder what has been missed long ago that only recently got discovered or noticed, with no one even knowing it could have been discovered much earlier had serendipity been in the mix.

[@RentaDucaticom]

@@jeffk8019 : DaVinci and actual flight comes to mind... ;>)

[@barryberman563]

What a coincidence. This weekend I attended "Homecoming" at my Alma Mater, Brooklyn Technical High School. It is the school's 100th anniversary. One of the many intesting things on display is the commemorative wall of portraits of distinguished alumni which includes Dr. Penzias. Thank you for another interesting video.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

That footage of the balloon inflating in space is interesting. I have never seen that before.

[@Kae6502]

That's a piece of science history right there! I hope there are plans to preserve and restore this instrument before it's too late! Looks a little rough around the edges at this point. :( Thanks for this one Scott! :)

[@danlewellyn6734]

They at least need to fix that broken window...

[@Silverhks]

Unfortunately, we Americans have a poor history of preserving important historical artifacts/sites.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

Bell Labs isn't a public place, its an active industrial park, though it was put on the national registry in 2017. in short, its complicated

[@Silverhks]

@@AsbestosMuffins it always is. Many of our persevered sites were private property at one point.

[@gardnep]

Could do with some acrylic sheets in the windows.

[@esweet100]

Scott, I forwarded a link to this video to a former colleague from Bell Labs at Crawford Hill. His response makes me even sadder. "The vandalism Scott Manley saw unfortunately happened in the last week -- my daughter and I had been to the top of the hill to remove a tree that had fallen close to the antenna. Unfortunately, Nokia does not own the site anymore so the long term future of the antenna is uncertain. But we are working with the mayor of Holmdel and other interested parties to either secure the current location or move the antenna to a place where it will be kept in good condition." I'll let you know if I learn anything more about attempts at preservation.

[@eekee6034]

I'm not sad they're working to preserve the antenna. :)

[@HewesNews]

This explains the woodpile at the base of the Horn. Thanks for doing that. There has been even more damage since April 9, when I met Dr. Wilson and a group of Harvard students on a field trip to the Horn. As of today (4/29) all the windows have been boarded up, as they had been smashed in the past two weeks. Joe Hewes.

[@prozac756]

I worked for Bell Labs in Holmdel for 23 years, providing computer services for the Company. Bob Wilson was a customer. I’ve seen all of these facilities. I still get goose bumps just looking at these sites. Today Bell Labs exists in name only. It was a national treasure that was lost because of deregulation and the need to show immediate quarterly growth. Even applied research just doesn’t have a quick enough ROI. Scott didn’t mention that the Penzias and Wilson experiments were a by product of research aimed at improving satellite communications.

[@executivesteps]

I recall the line from 2 of my students who worked there, “work on something applied or work on your resume”. 😯

[@baomao7243]

This takes me back to particle accelerator design work at LBL. The world was waveguides, coax, klystrons/magnetrons, and eliminating noise. You had to visualize how currents flowed on surfaces, at edges, and around/through holes at freq ranging from DC to 50GHz. It had a certain beauty because you just needed to “think electromagnetics, think Maxwell.” Yet troubleshooting was maddening. I really respect these guys.

[@dakotahrickard]

As a somewhat inferior radio operator (a Licensed General Amateur Radio Operator to be precise) I really apreciated this video from several points of view. I hope it's well received, that it gives your channel a gain in popularity, that it signals folks in that area to care for their heritage, and that these puns aren't too egregious. Thanks for doing what you do.

[@cdstoc]

I had no idea that this famous antenna still existed, I first read it about it around 50 years ago. I do hope some TLC gets thrown its way. Thanks for showing it to us.

[@dlwiii3]

What a brilliant use of a side trip while you’re in New Jersey. Thank you Scott that was amazing.

[@RCAvhstape]

The degradation of sites like this and Arecibo is heartbreaking.

[@lapaleves]

even more, considering the fact this could be made a museum just by fixing one fking window. thanks hullo man, hope this gets more attention.

[@LolUGotBusted]

I too felt pain when I saw the first broken window, but science is not nostalgic. This is a minor slight.

[@kx4532]

Can you interview any old folks involved with the project?

[@1pcfred]

Time marches on. I remember going on a tour of Cape Canaveral and it was like looking at ruins. That was back in the 70s too. I can't imagine stuff is in much better shape today.

[@kenhelmers2603]

Glad you went to see it! Thanks for sharing your visit. I haven't heard about that horn in years :)

[@jayriechel9668]

Thank you for this video Scott! The 1978 PBS Nova episode about this bit of history is called "A Whisper From Space" and is watchable from The Internet Archive. It had interviews with the key scientists, and even a bit of reenactment from Penzias and Wilson themselves. I watched it when originally broadcast when I was in 8th grade, and it made a huge impression on me. Not really understanding much of the science really stoked my desire for scientific knowledge (and my later engineering degree!). I miss the "hard science" Nova episodes from back then.

[@MrCuddlyable3]

@Jay Riechel Thank you in turn for pointing to "A Whisper From Space" which I enjoyed!

[@jackwheeler7822]

Hi Scott! Big fan and Holmdel native. So cool to see you made a visit to such a quiet town. Dr. Wilson visited the Highschool for an interview with the TV and film club when I went there. I got to shake his hand. It was inspiring to meet a Nobel winner as a kid. So great to see a shout out to home, keep up the great content!

[@trefod]

This should be restored as a pilgrimage site where future radio astronomers can come and get some mojo.

[@tzyijiang9884]

Many Americans know every detail about professional sports and entertainments but absolutely nothing about science and technology. Thanks for creating videos like this that can save the U. S. and the world!

[@KokkiePiet]

The first patent for a transistor similar to today's field-effect transistor was filed by the physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in Germany in 1928. At that time, however, materials research had not yet progressed to the point where this transistor could be built. The theoretical principles were devised by Walter Schottky, an engineer employed by Siemens at the time. Oskar Heil (the inventor of the klystron) applied for a patent in 1934 in which he proposed capacitively acting control electrodes on semiconductors, known today as field-effect transistors. Transistor research in Europe and America was interrupted by the Second World War.

[@cambridgemart2075]

Heil invented the Heil tube, which shares the basic elements of the klystron but lacks the internal resonant cavities; the Heil tube was placed inside a cavity to tune it.

[@niniliumify]

History. Another great reason I watch your channel. I've worked around horn antenna before, but not in this configuration. *Amazing! * Thank you for the lesson.

[@johndododoe1411]

This is actually better preserved than the instrument that gathered the raw data for Kepler's theories of orbital motion. Uranienborg is essentially gone after Tycho left for Prague. Replacement instruments were built elsewhere on nearby Zealand, including a purpose built facility atop the university church.

[@patrickg7393]

My grandfather worked on that! He even told me about how some people had to go clean out the horn of bird poop and nests because it was messing with the experiment. I was lucky enough to see the horn in the mid 70’s. I have his tools and drafting equipment that he used in his work at Homdel labs most likely his stories is why I’m so interested in “unlocking the mysteries of space” as he put it. RIP Pop. Your work made it to the Scott Manly KZbin channel!

[@stevebeal73]

I remember seeing the Echo satellite from our back garden in North London when I was a boy. Newspapers told you when and where to look and it was very bright indeed., eg much brighter than the ISS is now - although I can't deny that my memory may be at fault on that point. It was a long time ago!

[@rpbajb]

No, you're correct. I watched echo go over, and it was extremely bright, but only at sunrise or sunset.

[@jeffjenks2533]

Somewhere, I have time lapse photos of Echo I and Echo II as they traveled across the sky, taken on a clear night from my driveway in Hartford, CT, USA.

[@vladimirushakov9163]

Nice of you t9 visit my home state New Jersey! Hope you had a good visit. I've driven up to see the antenna before a few times.

[@Nicole-xd1uj]

It really says something sad about our society when battlegrounds are memorialized and visited by thousands but the sites of great science are abandoned. Thank you for taking us there with you.

[@slartybartfarst9737]

I live near Joderall Bank, such an epic dish. Preserved and now a visitor centre, the Crawford Hill antenna needs to be preserved for future generations. Visiting such historic sites is unique.

[@no6b394]

2 corrections if I may: The "e" in Robert Dicke's last name is not silent, it is a long "e". He died in 1997, not 1987. I attended a talk he gave at MTT Boston in 1991, so I knew without looking it up that this had to be wrong.

[@john_in_phoenix]

Fascinating and totally unknown to me until your video. Certainly worthy of preservation. Thanks!

[@mhoover]

When I was a kid my mom once called me out to the front yard to see Echo pass over. It was quite a sight.

[@HewesNews]

Thanks for this, Scott. I'm there all the time. Met Dr. Wilson there three weeks ago with a group of Harvard astronomy students. I saw the dish move, and got to see inside the control cab. This is an excellent documentary video.

[@Kausan1]

Great video - such a shame about the abandoned structures

[@silversrayleigh8980]

why do u all say the same thing ? The area is maintained.. its kept up .. go visit.. Do you prefer a queue and churros ? Go to seaworld chief

[@Hugh_Jas]

I can't tell you how much I'd love to see you and Destin (Smarter Every Day) do a video together where you tour a rocket engine factory or something equally cool. I feel like you guys would get along fabulously and make something really great together.

[@richardmaier28]

I had to deliver computer tapes from AT+T international in White Plains NY to Holmdel back in the late 60's/early 70's while in college;case was locked up like the football.Good times!

[@brandonknapp8046]

I've never met another who knows of this, and few others online who have. It's a rare gem in many ways. Glad to see a new vid about it.

[@rpbajb]

Echo was made of mylar plastic, which was fairly new in the early 60's. I remember the first piece I ever touched, given to me by a Boy Scout leader. It was so light and strong, it seemed like a miracle.

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

This was a great tour! And very informative. I have a book in my collection written in 1947 by the staff of Harvard’s Radio Research Lab for the Office of Scientific Research and Development, National Defense Research Committee, Division of Radio Coordination that goes into great detail about those systems and microwave radio research. It’s just one small part of a large collection of vintage/antique science that I’ve been blessed to curate. Preserving and sharing antique technology with others is one of my greatest joys and passions. It’s an incredible shame that this historic site is not being properly preserved. The day is coming where it will be too late.

[@angustin6590]

This is one of the stories that got me interested in space and science.

[@mattdehope7517]

As a long time viewer of the channel and lifelong New Jerseyean, this was an amazing video. Bell laboratories has always been apart of New Jersey history as well as camp Evans where Lee Marconi sent the first transatlantic radio communications

[@patrickjordan2233]

"and we stand on the shoulders of giants..." Great video! 👍🏆👍

[@ShukenFlash]

I can't believe this place isn't a national historic landmark of some sort. It made some seriously huge scientific discoveries. Super cool to see you check it out.

[@TheEvilmooseofdoom]

Outside the cosmic back ground what else was discovered there?

[@stargazer7644]

According to the image at 11:19, it is a national historic landmark. Did you watch the video?

[@ScreamingSturmovik]

it's really fun to learn about the "oops major discovery" aspects of science

[@thomashiggins9320]

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but, 'That's funny...". ― Isaac Asimov.

[@massimookissed1023]

Like Faraday demonstrating an electric circuit and noticing a compass needle move.

[@gregsiska8599]

Thanks for the presentation Scott. While I was working as an AEGIS radar tech for Lockheed-Martin I would tell people the same thing : waveguide is a pipe for radio waves. BTW, at Bath Iron Works the pipe shop installs the waveguide on US Navy destroyers they are building. :)

[@TheGreatSteve]

I always find myself thinking that sites like these should have domes built over them.

[@darrengladstone3159]

I always love deep dives into a moment in time when someone did something massively clever and now is largely forgotten. Love these episodes of science obscurity and history.

[@ecophreak1]

I think it was Bill Bryson's "Brief History of Everything" that made me aware of this experiment for the first time, the description of pigeon poop as 'unwanted dialectric material' (I believe that was the phrasing) is particularly amusing

[@ianjohnston1545]

One of my favorite books. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

[@rayceeya8659]

OMG I didn't know this place was still standing! It looks well preserved too. Such a critical piece of scientific history.

[@rocketpunchgo1]

Always great videos. Keep up the great work!

[@damienlery7550]

America should preserve this historical site for sure

[@Tim_Small]

Great video, but pretty sad to see the site in that sort of condition, and steadily deteriorating...

[@derekm1986]

Just visited today thanks to your video! I've driven by on the Garden State Parkway a couple dozen times without knowing it. I first saw a picture of it in a textbook.

[@iitzfizz]

Cool how the water tower looks like a transistor but also a radio telescope

[@rsprockets7846]

is also a beacon the inflight ETs use for landing in this areas

[@cloudrider007]

So cool! Thanks for the context on the discovery of the background radiation from the big bang. Very cool.

[@Trebuchet48]

I remember seeing Echo go over as a kid. First man-made object in space to be visible with the unaided eye from the ground, IIRC. Also remember seeing the horn in articles. As I recall, this antenna was one of the first uses of a maser, predecessor of the laser.

[@mbox314]

While you are in NJ you should also check out the Trios Dish in Wall township. It was built by the army to communicate with the trios weather satellite (although it was probably an early spy satelite) the dish was built in the 1950's but recently restored by Princeton University to use for their own radio astronomy work. The satellite is owned by a small science technology museum so if you ask nicely they can show you around.

[@DeliveryMcGee]

If you see smaller (car-sized) versions of that kind of antenna on towers, that's a remnant of AT&T's Long Lines microwave point-to-point system.

[@Graham_Langley]

They used to have them on the what was then the Post Office Tower in London.

[@executivesteps]

I remember we used to call them “cat’s ear” antennas.

[@somedude-lc5dy]

the US needs more laws regarding buying things and not maintaining them. so many sites like this or houses in cities get bought up and just sit empty until the fall apart because they never became worth enough to the investor.

[@scowell]

Very sad to hear that the site has fallen into disrepair and vandalism. Some of the pictures looked similar to the Harvard Agassis 25m equatorial radio-telescope... not sure that there weren't a bunch of these same 25m equatorials made... I worked at NRAO Ft. Davis, right across the dirt road, when this 'scope was decommissioned and torn down. The alt/az mounting of the Horn is now the default telescope drive for all new optical and radio telescopes... nobody builds equatorials anymore. The old UTRAO 'scope, although made of linear arrays of 300mHz helicals, had a concrete circle with its own az/el mount, used for testing the helicals ( 30.110070° N, -103.905312° W)... worked there too.

[@joee1325]

I used to ride my bike up Crawford hill to holmdel park ~ 1969. There was also an abandoned Nike missile base up there at the edge of the park.

[@gafletcher1]

According to the stone at the end of your video, it is a national historic landmark. This means it can't be destroyed and must be maintained. Maybe some one should start a "go fund me" for the restoration and security of this historic science relic.

[@Wulthrin]

the go fund me is called "US tax dollars" the National Historic Preservation Act provides money for this type of thing but the property owners have to go out and get it

[@1pcfred]

@@Wulthrin I don't know if property owners get funded automatically. I do know they have to comply with regulations though. The government will happily sue your ass out of existence if you mess with a landmark. That they'd come up with the money for.

[@dougsmith3353]

I clearly remember as a child seeing the Echo satellite in the night sky. My father worked for a very well known aerospace company and told us when and where to look in the night sky and magically it appeared right on time!

[@DFSJR1203]

Scott, if I knew you were down in Holmdel, NJ I would have rode down. I am only about 30 minutes from there. Would have loved to meet you. Also, did you get a chance to goto the InfoAge Science & History Museums in Wall, NJ off of route 18 at 2201 Marconi Road. It's another science museum you might like. Lot's of old equipment used in Project Diana.

[@mbox314]

Camp evans is a real Gem

[@escalera601]

Awesome video Scott! My dad worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey. Bell Labs did some incredible things in the 60s. Hope to see you in town again.

[@Zacktebo]

Hey you're up in my neck of the woods! didnt know this was up here. i'll have to go check this out!

[@LordFalconsword]

It's sad. Should be a museum. There are so many nonsensical museum and preserved sites all over the country, but this one is.

[@alexlandherr]

At 4:45, awesome footage of the Echo 2 deployment. How was it filmed? Film stock or some sort of live signal to tape on the ground?

[@Kualinar]

Nice to see that this venerable antenna still exist. Sad that it's not getting all the love it deserve.

[@bbirda1287]

This reminds me of when I took my little brother to the museum to see the SR-71, and he was completely unimpressed. It was quite a shock. Some people have different tastes and just don't get it. Poor little granite stone with a sign, "Big bang discovered here"

[@bbirda1287]

Maybe that's what happened to Stonehenge. "You can unlock the secrets of the sun and time!" Yeah, sure Grandpa, I got stuff to do, somebody has to feed the goats. True, but not the point.

[@trj1442]

That was an excellent episode. Thankyou.

[@TypoKnig]

Penzias’ and Wilson’s paper does mention removing the pigeons and cleaning a “white dielectric substance” from the inside of the antenna. I guess “pigeon poop” doesn’t sound Nobel worthy. ;-)

[@riverground]

When I visited the horn antenna once as a kid, we met this guy who worked nearby, who told us that he had gotten inspired by this story as a kid to go into astronomy, and now that he worked there, he always came out to eat lunch beside the anrenna every day.

[@raztaz826]

Looks like a good spot for a little museum. A bit of paint and some info billboards.

[@aljawad]

Back in the 1980s I lived less than 30 minutes away from the antenna and I had visited it on many occasions. I sure hope the site is restored and protected to guarantee its legacy for future generations. BTW, New Jersey might be small in area, but it prides itself in so many historical sites one might visit on a limited time. For example, the Lakehurst site of the Hindenburg disaster is less that an hour away from Holmdel.

[@pyrsartur3675]

Very interesting. Thanks for this video. I live in New Jersey. Never heard about these devices and their history.

[@keithlovelock8829]

👍nice historical record…thanks Scott

[@dl5244]

8:32 The Planck telescope satellite doesn't come close to measuring 4GHz (~74mm wavelength). It's lowest resolving frequency is 30GHz (~10mm). It found the peak of the CMBR to be at 160.2GHz (~1.8mm). Just to clarify, the article you flashed up by Pierre Robataille just following is saying the Planck data does NOT show a (ideal) 3K/4K blackbody emission spectra? Even with the large measurement error bars, the ideal curve does seem to deviate...

[@Azmodon]

"The Planck telescope satellite doesn't come close to measuring 4GHz". He didn't say the planck is what measured it at 4, just that the first measurement in 1961 did. The measurements are as close to perfect as one could hope, with no outliers. Planck only confirmed what COBE had measured a decade earlier, COBE being at 900km, while planck was out at 400K km.

[@dbkokinda]

@ScottManley, I wish I knew you were coming. I grew up about a mile and a half from the horn. My dad worked at the now defunct Bell Labs site. Our street's original name was Telstar Drive which had Echo Court teed off of it. We lived in Space Acres which was full of Bell Labs engineers.

[@picksalot1]

I've seen a number of documentaries about the Horn, and its scientific importance, but none came close to this excellent video! Even though I'd heard the words "Synchrotron Radiation" numerous times, I realized I had no clue what it meant - Had to look it up. 🤣 Thanks for this totally awesome video. You've set a very high standard indeed. 👍😎

[@dingdongdaddy589]

I’m glad you got technical, because Bell Labs Murray Hill (now Nokia) is a customer of mine… And I work in the lab where that transistor was invented. 👊🏽👽👍🏽

[@Dr_Mario2007]

I remember that AT&T used to be at the front line of science, via their Bells Lab which is owned by Nokia now. There are a few decent films on this particular lab on KZbin and out of curiosity, I watched them all.

[@RealJohnnyDingo]

(You meant Nokia) It was an amazing era of scientific and technological achievement. Hard to say which of their discoveries was the most world-changing.

[@Dr_Mario2007]

@@RealJohnnyDingo Thank you for the correction. Edited my previous comment. Whoops. And yes. It was back in the day when everyone else were racing for something bleeding edge, and Bells Lab were usually ahead in the game. It's unfortunate that it's no longer used to be the case. It's like we all lost the spark for technological advancement.

[@Trp44]

Best episode yet💯💯💯

[@BigByrd-gy8qk]

You were practically in my backyard. We have a bike route that includes that horn visit :).

[@therobot1080]

Amazing as always!😊

[@pierre-marierobitaille2095]

A few of points. First, you are not being forthright with your audience. The monopole of the microwave background (the famous 2.7 K primary signal observed by Penzias and Wilson and then measured to great precision by the COBE satellite) has never been measured at L2 away from the Earth. It has only been detected on Earth and in Earth orbit. The high frequency instrument (HFI) on the Planck satellite was an absolute instrument and should have been able to confirm the results from COBE, but never did. That is a serious problem for their claims. Satellites located at L2 has only measured anisotropy, not the monopole. Secondly, the blackbody loads on the Planck satellite are functioning as resonators, not blackbodies and that is a fatal flaw in satellite design. Third, I never stated that the signal is a reflection from the Earth's oceans. I stated that it is produced by the hydrogen bond in the Earth's oceans. For those who actually want to understand what has happened relative to the microwave background and want more than propaganda which gloss over all the major issues, then come to Sky Scholar where you can view 23 clips about the microwave background. You will learn that things are not as simple as portrayed in this video. In any case, thanks for bringing my work to the attention of others, even if the nature of the comments lacked professionalism.

[@robertsmythe5660]

_"First, you are not being forthright with your audience"_ Lol. That's rich coming from a physics illiterate charlatan who continually lies to his audience. _"Secondly, the blackbody loads on the Planck satellite are functioning as resonators, not blackbodies and that is a fatal flaw in satellite design."_ You don't know the first thing about satellite design. The people that did design them do. They understand physics. You don't. _"I stated that it is produced by the hydrogen bond in the Earth's oceans."_ Which is a really dumb thing to claim. If it were, we would see it in any number of microwave studies of the oceans. We don't. Therefore it does not exist. Added to which we see the CMB exhibit the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, as predicted. Inverse Compton scattering, basically. I doubt you covered that in inorganic chemistry and zoology. Caused by photons receiving an energy boost from electrons near large scale structure (LSS). Not only does the SZ effect seen in the CMBR trace out already known LSS, it has been used by others, using different telescopes, at different wavelengths, to discover heretofore unknown LSS. Hell of a trick to pull off if this is merely the impossible radiation from the oceans! We also see the CMB photons lensed by LSS. You think there are galaxy clusters between Earth and the L2 point, hmmm? In addition, we also observe the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect on the CMB photons. Due to the accelerated expansion of the universe. And which was also predicted. By actual physicists. That accelerated expansion is also confirmed by baryon acoustic oscillation observations, as well as those of supernova 1a time dilation measurements. I am not seeing any peer-reviewed papers from you or anybody else questioning the above findings. Just crackpots on youtube and in predatory, pseudoscience, non-peer-reviewed rags. Furthermore, in an NYT interview, why did you refuse to deny any connection to creationist/ ID (same thing) crackpottery? Why are you so fond of the religious crackpot Edward Dowdye? Anybody that knows anything about the relevant physics would know that plasma cannot be the cause of gravitational lensing! The lensing observed is wavelength independent. Plasma lensing is refraction. And that is wavelength dependent. In very specific situations, we can actually separate the refraction from the gravitational lensing. The latter is orders of magnitude greater than the former. How did you fall for such obviously wrong nonsense? No physicist would ever be taken in by such nonsense. Aside from the fact that Dowdye lied about the distances from the Sun where lensing had been measured. Maybe it's about time you were honest with your audience, and told them that all the impossible nonsense you are selling them is based purely on your religious beliefs. It sure as hell is nothing to do with science.

[@pierre-marierobitaille2095]

@@robertsmythe5660 I properly addressed the issue. The monopole of the CMB has never been measured at L2. Mr. Manley was not correct when he claimed otherwise. Relative to understanding the LFI on the Planck satellite, this device is operating as a resonator, not as a blackbody. One can calculate a Q value for the 4K loads and it is about 100, a long way from a blackbody, which must not support any standing waves. I have analyzed the question in detail in this paper: "The Planck Satellite LFI and the Microwave Background: Importance of the 4 K Reference Targets, Progr. Phys. 2010, 3, 11." You are welcome to attack the journal, as you have in the past, but that does not negate the scientific argument. The resonances are clearly seen in the loads, as can be verified by anyone who examines figure 2. As an expert in resonant devices in MRI, I have the ability to adequate review the resonant behavior of the 4K loads on the Planck satellite. I have also produced a video on the subject which can be viewed on Sky Scholar. In any event, if Scott Manley truly cared about science, he would post a comment on his video highlighting that the monopole of the CMB (the signal first detected by Penzias and Wilson) has never been detected beyond the confines of the Earth, exactly as I have highlighted and as the cosmologists always fail to point out. As for failing to see the 3K emissions from the oceans, that is not correct. We do see it everyday with our satellites! However, those who operate the satellites just assign that part of the signal to the universe instead of to the Earth because they never question they interpretation of Dicke, Peebles, and Wilkinson. As I highlighted on my channel, water can act as a 3K blackbody in the microwave and anyone with interest can learn why by examining those videos. I have also analyzed the SZ effect and the Wolf-Sacchs effects in my videos and your points are easily proven false by careful analysis of the data. This is my last response to you on this channel.

[@JurisKankalis]

Well done! Videos from this channel - not only on space-faring - are most welcome. Greetings from Latvia.

[@theaveragepro1749]

I'm just wondering if this also functions as a fogg horn if you put the right stuff at the end.

[@Wulthrin]

haha hogg horn go *_BRRRRRRRR_*

[@EvanDunville]

There are some nice woodworking machines in that building. 2 radial arm saws looks like a 12" Rockwell and another large one. An Oliver tabe saw and a doall drill press.

[@jajssblue]

Great to learn about horns, large and small

[@ke6gwf]

I remember my dad talking about seeing the Echo satellite go overhead. He went on to program for and operate a couple of the early tube and transistor computers including the ERMA at BofA in LA, basically the original Online Banking, and what made the magnetic ink on checks a thing so it could read them automatically. One fun story he told was that the computer developed a glitch, some circuit was going out and it would lock some board on the back end of the computer up, and the operator would have to get up from the control console and walk all the way around the racks, open a panel and flip a momentary reset toggle switch. The GE technicians had looked at it and just gave the instructions to keep flipping the switch as needed, and didn't seem to be in a hurry to repair it, so late one night when my dad was working alone processing checks, the thing kept locking up, and he would have to walk around to the other side of the racks and flip the switch, then walk back to the console and hit Continue, and it was wasting a lot of time, so he grabbed a roll of string from the secretary's desk, tied one end on the reset switch, through a vent slot in the cover panel, and then ran it over the top of the racks and tied it to the console, so every time it froze up he could just pull the string and hit the restart button and lose very little processing time. The next morning the manager gets into work and yells at him for the string dangling over the room, and my dad tells him how many minutes of processing time it saved that night by not having to walk back every time, and the manager simmered down. Then the manager went and called GE, and very soon the tech came over a little red around the ears and replaced the faulty board!