Hi there! I am Bradley Frank, a South African Astrophysicist, with an expertise in Radio Astronomy. I am a Senior Developer with the Science Data Processing Team at the South African Radio Astronomical Observatory (SARAO, https://ska.ac.za), and a Senior Researcher and Project Lead with the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy.
This website is my personal research space where I share highlights related to my work as an astronomer.
My work focuses on the evolution of galaxies, as observed via multi-wavelength missions, with an emphasis on radio telescopes. I have lots of observational experience with optical and radio telescopes. I learned how to observe with the old SAAO 20’’ telescope – climbing up a ladder with a joystick and peering through an eye-piece to point it. My expertise with radio telescopes is much more comprehensive. In the last ten years I’ve learned about radio astronomy by working on a variety of projects:
- Commissioned the Wits Rooftop Yagi interferometer, and winning the Frank Nabarro Memorial Prize in the process.
- Calibrated the 22GHz receiver on the Hartebeeshoek telescope with the late and brilliant Mike Gaylard.
- Helped commission the KAT-7 radio telescope with the MeerKAT team.
- Designed the MeerKAT antenna configuration.
- Developed the calibration and imaging pipeline for the APERTIF project.
- Developing the big-data backbone for the data processing and science delivery for the imaging surveys that will be conducted with the MeerKAT telescope.
I am currently doing postgraduate studies in Engineering Management at the University of Stellenbosch.
I am using the awesome mmistakes /jekyll-theme-basically-basic theme for this website.