At this location in 1931, Bell Laboratories physicist and radio researcher Karl Jansky recorded for the first time radio signals from beyond the Earth. The source of these signals, radio noise at a wavelength of 14.6 meters, was the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Jansky's discovery, first announced in 1933, gave birth to the science of radio astronomy. His directional antenna was oriented at 7:10 p.m. on September 16, 1932, at a moment of maximum signal, when as it rotated the center of the galaxy came into view in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, low on the southern horizon. Jansky died in 1950, years before the scientific community realized the significance of his discovery. In 1973, the International Astronomical Union gave his name to the international unit of radio flux density. His work led to a number of breakthroughs in astronomy, including the discovery of quasars, pulsars, radio galaxies, and, near this site in 1964, Bell Laboratories scientists' Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the cosmic microwave background, which revolutionized understanding of the origin of the universe.
