Early History
In 1988-89, the Director of National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Paul Vanden Bout, convened an independent review panel, the Software Advisory Group (SWAG) to produce recommendations for the future of processing software for NRAO. SWAG was chaired by Tim Cornwell, and its members included Geoff Croes, Gareth Hunt, Jan Noordam, and Ray Norris. SWAG recommendations were that:
- All data processing in NRAO should be coordinated by a new Assistant Director for Computing
- AIPS should be re-designed and re-implemented following certain general guidelines
- An equal amount of attention should be devoted to single-dish software.
In late 1990 the NRAO Director accepted the recommendations, and the task of defining the new package began.
The project was originally an effort by several astronomical institutes together in a consortium, the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), the Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility (MERLIN/VLBI), the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy ASTRON.
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