Grote Reber Museum

Grote Reber was an American pioneer of radio astronomy, which combined his interests in amateur radio and amateur astronomy.

Grote Reber (December 22, 1911 - December 20, 2002) was an American pioneer of radio astronomy, which combined his interests in amateur radio and amateur astronomy. He was instrumental in investigating and extending Karl Jansky's pioneering work, and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequencies.. His 1937 radio antenna was the second ever to be used for astronomical purposes. For nearly a decade he was the world's only radio astronomer. Reber was born and raised in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and graduated from Armour Institute of Technology (now Illinois Institute of Technology) in 1933 with a degree in electrical engineering. He was an amateur radio operator, and worked for various radio manufacturers in Chicago from 1933 to 1947.