172
9 Mount Wilson
Fig. 9.1 Mount Wilson Observatory. This illustration comes from Henriette Hertzsprung–
Kapteyn’s biography [1]
American who had made a fortune building elevators, to buy him a 60 in. glass
disk to grind into a mirror for a telescope. The intention at the time was of
course to put that telescope at Yerkes, but then there was no money to take
the project any further. But George Hale succeeded to convince steel magnate
Andrew Carnegie to first finance the Mount Wilson Observatory with its solar
telescopes and next to build a 60 in. telescope there. At one-and-a-half meters,
this was by far the largest telescope in the world, to be erected in the excellent
climate of Southern California (Fig. 9.1).
Along with George Hale a large group of astronomers came from Yerkes
to California, particularly Walter Sydney Adams (1876–1956). New collaborators were also attracted, including Frederick Hanley Seares (1873–1964),
who would work extensively with Kapteyn. The construction of the 60 in.
telescope, in which telescope designer George Willis Ritchey (1864–1945),
who also came from Yerkes, played a crucial role, was already an enormous feat
(Figs. 9.2 and 9.3). But in 1906 the local businessman John Daggett Hooker
(1838–1911) spontaneously offered to finance a 100 in. telescope (2.5 ms!)
for Mount Wilson. So even before the 60 in. telescope was completed, work
was already underway to build a second, even larger giant telescope. Hale suffered more and more from depressions and nervous collapses, probably from
pressure and the responsibility for these enormous projects.
9 Mount Wilson
Fig. 9.1 Mount Wilson Observatory. This illustration comes from Henriette Hertzsprung–
Kapteyn’s biography [1]
American who had made a fortune building elevators, to buy him a 60 in. glass
disk to grind into a mirror for a telescope. The intention at the time was of
course to put that telescope at Yerkes, but then there was no money to take
the project any further. But George Hale succeeded to convince steel magnate
Andrew Carnegie to first finance the Mount Wilson Observatory with its solar
telescopes and next to build a 60 in. telescope there. At one-and-a-half meters,
this was by far the largest telescope in the world, to be erected in the excellent
climate of Southern California (Fig. 9.1).
Along with George Hale a large group of astronomers came from Yerkes
to California, particularly Walter Sydney Adams (1876–1956). New collaborators were also attracted, including Frederick Hanley Seares (1873–1964),
who would work extensively with Kapteyn. The construction of the 60 in.
telescope, in which telescope designer George Willis Ritchey (1864–1945),
who also came from Yerkes, played a crucial role, was already an enormous feat
(Figs. 9.2 and 9.3). But in 1906 the local businessman John Daggett Hooker
(1838–1911) spontaneously offered to finance a 100 in. telescope (2.5 ms!)
for Mount Wilson. So even before the 60 in. telescope was completed, work
was already underway to build a second, even larger giant telescope. Hale suffered more and more from depressions and nervous collapses, probably from
pressure and the responsibility for these enormous projects.