A. Richard Thompson

Anthony Richard Thompson was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, on April 7, 1931. He received the B.Sc degree with honors in physics from the University of Manchester, England in 1952. From 1952 to 1956 he was engaged in graduate studies in radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank Experimental Station of the University of Manchester. He worked with R. Hanbury Brown and Henry Palmer on some of the pioneering innovations of astronomical interferometry including the first implementation of the lobe rotator, also known as the "fringe stopper." This development greatly improved the sensitivity of interferometers by extending the integration period beyond the natural fringe period. He received his PhD in 1956 with a thesis entitled "Interferometry Measurements on the Discrete Radio Sources."

From 1956 to 1957 Thompson worked with E.M. I. Electronics Ltd., Feltham, Middlesex, on missile guidance and telemetry problems. He joined the staff of Harvard University, and was Research Associate until 1961 and Research Fellow from 1961-1962. He worked in solar radio astronomy at the Fort Davis, Texas, Radio Astronomy Station of Harvard College Observatory. He was at Stanford University from 1962-1972, where he was involved in design and construction of the five-element synthesis array, and from 1966-1972 held a concurrent visiting appointment at Owens Valley Radio Observatory.

In January 1973 Thompson joined the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. He was Project Engineer for the VLA Project until February 1974, and from February 1974 through February 1978 was Assistant-Head and then Head of the VLA Project's Electronics Division. From January 1975 through December 1980 he served as Deputy Project Manager for the construction phase of the VLA Project. From June 1978 to August 1984 he was Systems Engineer and Frequency Coordinator for the VLA Project. While working on the VLA Project, Thompson was at various times responsible for the detailed design of parts of the IF and local oscillator sub-systems, performed systems studies to determine design tolerances in many areas of electronics; after the array was completed in December 1980, he was responsible for testing and investigation of systems problems, and for frequency coordination. In August 1984 Thompson moved from Socorro NM to Charlottesville VA to work on the VLBA Project, first as Head of the VLBA Electronics Division (August 1984-1986), then as Systems Engineer (March 1986-1988), and from July 1987 through 1992 was Deputy Manager of the VLBA Project. He was responsible for the system design, construction, and testing of the receiving electronics for the VLBA, including management of the engineering group involved. From July 1988 until his retirement on July 30, 1999 he was Scientist with Continuing Appointment, and served as Deputy Head of the Central Electronics Laboratory, 1992-1998. In November 2001 he became Emeritus Scientist.

From 1978 into the early 2000s, Thompson was active in frequency coordination for radio astronomy through the International Telecommunications Union R (ITU-R) [formerly CCIR, International Radio Consultative Committee], Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) of the National Academy of Sciences, and Interunion Commission on Frequency Allocations for Radioastronomy and Space Science (IUCAF), and served from 1986-1989 as the American Astronomical Society's representative to the U.S. National Committee of the International Union of Radio Scientists (URSI). He chaired CORF's Radio Astronomy Subcommittee from 1980-1986, and was IUCAF Secretary from 1982-1988. He was the International Astronomical Union's representative to ITU-R (November 1985-2000) and to IUCAF (August 1991-August 2000).

He chaired the Local Organizing Committees for IAU Symposium 97 on Extragalactic Radio Sources, held in Albuquerque NM in 1981, and for the NRAO Workshop on Synthesis Imaging held in Socorro NM in 1982.

Thompson was a member of the URSI Large Telescope Working Group which was formed in 1993 to begin a worldwide effort to develop the scientific goals and technical specifications for a next generation radio observatory, which led to SKA planning.

With co-authors James M. Moran and George W. Swenson, he wrote the widely acclaimed textbook, Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy (A.R. Thompson, J.M. Moran, and G.W. Swenson), which is often referred to as the "Bible" of radio interferometry. The first edition was published by Wiley in 1986 and reprinted by Kreiger in 1991, 1994 and 1998. The second edition followed in 2001. The third edition was published in 2017 under an open source license by Springer-Nature. This edition continues to be downloaded at a rate of about 10,000 copies per year. Russian and Chinese translations of the book are available.

Thompson died on December 7, 2024.