SKA HQ host site Jodrell Bank awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status

Jodrell Bank, the UK’s 32nd site to be added to the list, now joins a prestigious group of sites across the globe recognised by UNESCO’s international community as sites of Outstanding Universal Value. The World Heritage Site inscription acknowledges Jodrell Bank’s tremendous scientific endeavours and its role in achieving a transformational understanding of the Universe.

The addition of Jodrell Bank to the UNESCO World Heritage List is in recognition of its outstanding scientific heritage including its pioneering role in the development of radio astronomy and its work in tracking spacecraft in the early space race, and its research into quasars, pulsars and gravitational lenses. The site has evidence of every stage of the history of radio astronomy, from its emergence as a new science in the 1940s through to the present day. Indeed, the site was selected in 2015 as the permanent home of the SKA Global Headquarters, which is leading the delivery of the world’s future largest radio telescope. 

Read the full announcement on The University of Manchester’s website.