The fight to save Jodrell Bank Observatory

Leading scientists have called on the government to cancel cuts to the UK’s science budget that could force the closure of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, home to the world’s third largest telescope.

The Lovell Telescope – the brainchild of Bernard Lovell, the British physicist who worked on the government’s secret radar programme during the Second World War – became operational in the 1950s.

Since then it has offered up scientific breakthroughs beyond its creator’s “wildest dreams”, said A.S. Ganesh in The Hindu. "From quasars to black holes, and pulsars to gravitational lenses”, the Jodrell Bank Observatory has “played a crucial part in our better understanding of the universe”.

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Why is the observatory under threat?

In July, UK Research and Innovation, the government’s non-departmental public body responsible for science funding, announced that Jodrell Bank would not be prioritised for further investment after its existing agreement ends in March 2028.

UKRI said it had to channel investment towards projects that deliver “the greatest long-term impact”. The agency has an annual budget of nearly £10 billion, but the government wants to make “substantial savings after cost overruns as a result of soaring electricity and staff costs at UK facilities”, said The Guardian.

Under the current arrangement, Jodrell Bank receives around £2.8 million per year. If it cannot secure further funding, it will have to cease scientific observations from April 2028. As well as risking the loss of 28 jobs at the site, closure would also affect nearly 3,000 scientists who use its observations in their research, said the BBC.

The scientific community’s reaction?

Scotland’s astronomer royal, Professor Catherine Heymans, spoke for many in the community when calling the decision “a real act of national self-harm”.

Last week, leading scientists including physicist Brian Cox, professor at the University of Manchester, which hosts Jodrell Bank Observatory, warned Chancellor John Healey that the threat to the UK’s largest telescope is “just the tip of the iceberg”, said The i Paper.

In an open letter, they argued that planned funding cuts of up to 30% for the wider particle physics, astronomy and nuclear sector will “cause lasting and possibly irreparable damage to the UK’s scientific capabilities”.

Will the government intervene?

The government has said it is “exploring” long-term options for Jodrell Bank. Earlier this month, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the House of Commons that he had recently met staff at the University of Manchester to explore potential solutions. Scientific decisions must be “made on the basis of the science”, he told MPs, “but that still doesn’t mean there isn’t a future for Jodrell Bank as an asset”.

Andy Burnham has also pledged to find a way to save the telescope. Attention now turns to Wednesday’s Budget to see if Healey will pull a surprise announcement out his red briefcase to secure the facility’s future.