Abstract

Although the extragalactic nature of quasars was discussed as early as 1960, it was rejected largely because of preconceived ideas about what appeared to be an unrealistically high radio and optical luminosity. Following the 1962 occultations of the strong radio source 3C 273 at Parkes, and the subsequent identification with an apparent stellar object, Maarten Schmidt recognized that the relatively simple hydrogen line Balmer series spectrum implied a redshift of 0.16. Successive radio and optical measurements quickly led to the identification of other quasars with increasingly large redshifts and the general, although for some decades not universal, acceptance of quasars as being by far the most distant and the most luminous objects in the Universe. Arguments for a more local population continued for at least several decades, fueled in part by a greater willingness to accept the unclear new physics needed to interpret the large observed redshifts rather than the extreme luminosities and energies implied by the cosmological interpretation of the redshifts.

Curiously, 3C 273, which is one of the strongest extragalactic sources in the sky, was first catalogued in 1959 and the magnitude 13 optical counterpart was observed at least as early as 1887. Since 1960, much fainter optical counterparts were being routinely identified using accurate radio interferometer positions, measured primarily at the Caltech Owens Valley Radio Observatory. However, 3C 273 eluded identification until the series of lunar occultation observations led by Cyril Hazard. Subsequent attempts to classify quasars into numerous sub-categories based on their observed optical, radio, IR and high energy properties have perhaps led to more confusion than clarity. However, quasars and the broader class of AGN are now a fundamental part of astrophysics and cosmology. They were the basis for the recognition of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei, which are intimately tied to the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies.