Charles Husband

Construction of the 250-ft telescope

Husband worked with Bernard Lovell – the founder of the Jodrell Bank Observatory near Holmes Chapel in Cheshire – on the design and construction of the observatory's first large steerable radio telescope, the "250-ft telescope" (now known as the Lovell Telescope).[1][4] After attempting to adapt military radar equipment to detect cosmic rays shortly after the Second World War, Lovell had realised that a much larger aerial would be required, and constructed a 66-metre diameter dish, limited by being static, before proposing the development of an even larger steerable telescope.[5] The idea posed such formidable engineering challenges that the project had been declared "impossible" by other engineers,[1][6] but Husband is reported to have concluded at their first meeting in September 1949, "It should be easy—about the same problem as throwing a swing bridge over the Thames at Westminster."[7]

He began work on the project early the following year, creating the initial drawings in January 1950 and detailed plans just over a year later.[7][8][9] He and Lovell selected a dish diameter of 250 feet (76 metres).[10] Construction began in 1952; despite Husband's optimism the project was beset with delays and escalating costs, caused by multiple changes to Lovell's specifications and the rising price of steel, among other factors.[11][12][13] Wind-tunnel studies with a scale model played an important role in the final design.[1][11] The telescope was eventually completed in 1957, when it was the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world.[14] It remains in service as of 2016.[15] According to Lovell, the project was completed using "a desk calculator and slide rule", which led to a "sturdy" construction with "quite a lot of redundancy in the steelwork" which Lovell later credited for the telescope's longevity.[5] The structure is a rare example of a post-war grade-I-listed structure, denoting its "exceptional interest",[14][16] and was voted Britain's top "unsung landmark" in a 2006 BBC poll.[17]

Husband also helped to design the steerable radio aerials at the GPO's Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, as well as radio telescopes in the UK and elsewhere.[1][2]

Britannia Bridge after rebuilding

Other innovative projects Husband & Co. undertook under Husband's leadership included designing a facility for testing jet engines at altitude in 1946.[1][2] In the 1950s, Husband assisted the radiologist Frank Ellis in designing one of the earliest telecobalt radiotherapy units, for radiation treatment of cancer, which was installed at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. Like the radio telescopes, the engineering problem involved moving a heavy weight, in this case the lead-shielded source, in three dimensions.[18][19]

He designed many road and rail bridges.[2][20] Husband was awarded the contract to rebuild the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in Wales, after a 1970 fire. The original was an 1850 rail bridge by Robert Stephenson, and Husband faced criticism for designing a double-tier bridge including an additional road deck, which he stated formed part of Stephenson's original concept.[1] The firm also designed the bridge used in the 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai.[21]

Outside the UK, Husband & Co. had an office in Colombo and undertook multiple projects in Sri Lanka.[1] Husband was the architect of the Ceylon Insurance Building in Colombo, Sri Lanka (later Ceylinco House), a 16-storey building equipped with a helicopter landing pad on its roof. On completion in 1960, it was the tallest structure in Sri Lanka, at nearly 55 metres.[20][22]