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 Thanks
to Arthur Haspoja's note in the "Letters" feature of the October 2010 "Sky & Telescope," I learned
that the National Park Service is allowing the Horn Antenna to deteriorate at its home on
the old Bell Labs grounds (now owned by Lucent). It was famously used by Drs. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
to serendipitously discover the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, for which they were
awarded the Nobel Prize.
Below is the letter I wrote to request that action be taken to preserve this important part of science
history. Please consider sending a letter of your own.
To: Mr. Edson Beall, edson_beall@nps.gov
November 18, 2010
Greetings Mr. Beall:
I recently read a letter in "Sky & Telescope," written by a fellow amateur astronomer (Arthur
Haspoja) who visited the Horn Antenna located at the old Bell Labs site in Holmdel, NJ. He found it
to be in a pathetic state of disrepair. It would be a shame to let such an important part of science
history decompose into a rusted heap of metal.
With all the taxpayer's money being spent to wasteful ends (bridges to nowhere, et al), it is not
unreasonable to expect that the Horn Antenna at least be given a fresh coat of paint on occasion.
Your effort to arrange for a proper schedule of maintenance for the Horn Antenna would be greatly
appreciated. If you will let me know when the project is complete, I will be glad to publicize it on
my engineering website, RFCafe.com (typically 7,000-8,000 visitors per day).
Thank-you very much.
 For more information and a lot of detailed pictures of the dilapidated
condition of the
Holmdel horn antenna, please visit the Fort Bend Astronomy Club's website. A thumbnail
of one of the photos is shown at the right.
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