The Square Kilometer Array and Arecibo Observatory have tapped new directors. On 1 January, Richard Schilizzi took the reins as inaugural director of the SKA. The post is based in Dwingeloo at the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON), where he previously headed the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe (JIVE). And on 5 May, Robert L. Brown, who has been at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory for more than three decades, most recently as deputy director, will take the helm of Arecibo’s parent organization, the Cornell University–run National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center. He will succeed Paul Goldsmith, who stepped down in December after 10 years in the post.
The SKA’s large collecting area will make it 100 times more powerful than the best radio telescopes of today. “Everyone is excited about the SKA” says Schilizzi. “Its sensitivity to hydrogen, the most abundant element, gives it...
