306
Henry Brothers (optics) and Paul Gautier (mechanics) in Paris. But this well prepared and excellent project was never completed after nearly 100 years.
20
5.3 Solar Observatories and Contemporary Observatories
I would like to mention also remarkable solar observatories, which I have studied in
detail, the early solar observatories from Renaissance to nineteenth century
(Wolfschmidt, 2016a) like Ingolstadt, Germany (1611), Kew, UK (1769); Dessau,
Germany (1829); Collegio Romano in Rome, Italy (1852); Zürich, Switzerland
(1864); Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam, Germany (1874/1879); Meudon,
France (1876); Kalocsa, Hungary (1878).
Especially important is the invention and development of the solar tower in the
twentieth century (Wittmann, Wolfschmidt, & Duerbeck, 2005; Wolfschmidt,
2016b). Early such examples are the Mt. Wilson Observatory, USA (1904) with the
60 and 150 foot tower (1904/1908) (Wolfschmidt & Ruggles, 2011) and Pic du
Midi, France (1878–1882), an example of a high-mountain observatory.
In addition, Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953) in close cooperation with his friend
Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885–1964) designed the impressive Einstein Tower in
Potsdam (Wolfschmidt & Cotte, 2011), (Fig. 9), in the style of Expressionism
between 1920 and 1922. The optical design, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, surpassed
the Mt. Wilson solar tower in respect to light intensity. Freundlich characterized the
building as follows: “The design of the telescope as a tower telescope gave the
Einstein Tower its special character and allowed the architect to allocate the building the character of a monument due to the epochal significance of the theory of
relativity in the development of physics.” (Finlay-Freundlich, 1969: 541).
The later development started in the 1960s with the vacuum tower telescope; the
result of the evacuation are images without distortions. Examples for the famous
modern buildings are
21
: Kitt Peak’s Solar Telescopes (McMath-Pierce Telescope
1960, KPVT 1973, SOLIS 2004), Sacramento Peak, New Mexico (Richard B. Dunn
Solar Telescope, DST, 1969) and High Altitude Observatory (HAO), Boulder—
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii (1965). In addition to these, we have also the
European solar observatories (1979), the Observatorio de Teïde, Tenerife, and the
Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM), La Palma. The next generation
of solar telescopes for the twenty-first century is designed as compact Gregory-type
reflector,
22
similar to other astronomical telescopes, with 4-m-aperture. The DKIST
will be the world’s largest solar telescope. It is still difficult to include such leading
20 For the catalogue and the sky chart, 22,054 photographic plates were exposed but the plan was
88,216 plates. Only the catalogue was published in 1964. See Wolfschmidt (2020): 77–79.
21 See Wolfschmidt (2005a) and (2016b).
22 1.5-m GREGOR, Tenerife, 2006, and the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), since
2013 renamed as Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), Haleakala, Hawaii, USA National
Science Foundation, 2020.
G. Wolfschmidt
Henry Brothers (optics) and Paul Gautier (mechanics) in Paris. But this well prepared and excellent project was never completed after nearly 100 years.
20
5.3 Solar Observatories and Contemporary Observatories
I would like to mention also remarkable solar observatories, which I have studied in
detail, the early solar observatories from Renaissance to nineteenth century
(Wolfschmidt, 2016a) like Ingolstadt, Germany (1611), Kew, UK (1769); Dessau,
Germany (1829); Collegio Romano in Rome, Italy (1852); Zürich, Switzerland
(1864); Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam, Germany (1874/1879); Meudon,
France (1876); Kalocsa, Hungary (1878).
Especially important is the invention and development of the solar tower in the
twentieth century (Wittmann, Wolfschmidt, & Duerbeck, 2005; Wolfschmidt,
2016b). Early such examples are the Mt. Wilson Observatory, USA (1904) with the
60 and 150 foot tower (1904/1908) (Wolfschmidt & Ruggles, 2011) and Pic du
Midi, France (1878–1882), an example of a high-mountain observatory.
In addition, Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953) in close cooperation with his friend
Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885–1964) designed the impressive Einstein Tower in
Potsdam (Wolfschmidt & Cotte, 2011), (Fig. 9), in the style of Expressionism
between 1920 and 1922. The optical design, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, surpassed
the Mt. Wilson solar tower in respect to light intensity. Freundlich characterized the
building as follows: “The design of the telescope as a tower telescope gave the
Einstein Tower its special character and allowed the architect to allocate the building the character of a monument due to the epochal significance of the theory of
relativity in the development of physics.” (Finlay-Freundlich, 1969: 541).
The later development started in the 1960s with the vacuum tower telescope; the
result of the evacuation are images without distortions. Examples for the famous
modern buildings are
21
: Kitt Peak’s Solar Telescopes (McMath-Pierce Telescope
1960, KPVT 1973, SOLIS 2004), Sacramento Peak, New Mexico (Richard B. Dunn
Solar Telescope, DST, 1969) and High Altitude Observatory (HAO), Boulder—
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii (1965). In addition to these, we have also the
European solar observatories (1979), the Observatorio de Teïde, Tenerife, and the
Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM), La Palma. The next generation
of solar telescopes for the twenty-first century is designed as compact Gregory-type
reflector,
22
similar to other astronomical telescopes, with 4-m-aperture. The DKIST
will be the world’s largest solar telescope. It is still difficult to include such leading
20 For the catalogue and the sky chart, 22,054 photographic plates were exposed but the plan was
88,216 plates. Only the catalogue was published in 1964. See Wolfschmidt (2020): 77–79.
21 See Wolfschmidt (2005a) and (2016b).
22 1.5-m GREGOR, Tenerife, 2006, and the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), since
2013 renamed as Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), Haleakala, Hawaii, USA National
Science Foundation, 2020.
G. Wolfschmidt