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Grote Reber
lyrics � 1995 by Dr. H. Paul Shuch
sung to the tune of If You're Happy And You Know It (youth spiritual)

Sung by Dr. SETI on the interactive CD Tune In The Universe!

click to play song Click on the speaker icon to hear Dr. SETI sing this song!

A radio ham in Wheaton, Illinois,
Grote Reber he was quite a busy boy
When he built himself a dish 'bout as big as you could wish
And he showed the world that it was not a toy.

Reber's mother was a teacher, and Miss Grote,
On occasion taught a juvenile of note.
One who never gave her trouble was the brilliant Eddie Hubble,
And that surely was an influence on Grote.

Reber pointed his antenna at the sky,
And as countless constellations drifted by
He recorded in dB all the signals he could see
And became the first to map the Milky Wye.

Grote submitted his results for peer review
To the Astrophysics Journal, though he knew
That without a Ph.D. they'd be skeptical, but he
Would be vindicated in a year or two.

Every astrophysics expert had his say.
They rejected Reber's radio Milky Way,
For the signals he depicted very clearly contradicted
Every cosmologic theory of the day.

Now Grote Reber he was never one to mope,
And he always could maintain a sense of hope.
As the generations passed, he acquired an image vast
As the father of the radio telescope.

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this page last updated 14 June 2007
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