George Ellery Hale, observatory builder
Published on Feb 20, 2006 at 3:57 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under astronomers.
68 years ago today, one of the giants of American astronomy died: George Ellery Hale. So, I figured that I’d say a few words about him.
He actually started his astronomical career before he even went to college, studying the spectrum of the Sun. He continued his work on solar spectra while in college. As an undergraduate, he devised a way to photograph solar prominences without having to wait for an eclipse. This opened the way for solar astronomy. In 1892, Hale was hired by the University of Chicago. One of his duties was to arrange for the construction of a large professional observatory. He secured funds for the Yerkes Observatory, home to the world’s largest refracting telescope. It is well worth the time to visit Yerkes if you are ever in the area. There is a lot of history here, and the Yerkes 1m refractor is REALLY impressive to look at. Check the observatory web page for more information and for visitor information.
After getting the Yerkes Observatory established, Hale went to work establishing a large observatory at Mount Wilson in California, near Los Angeles. Mount Wilson was the site of a 60 inch reflecting telescope, built with money secured from the Carnegie Institute by Hale.   In addition to the 60 inch refractor, Hale managed to get a solar telscope built at Mount Wilson. With this instrument, he discoverred the intense magnetic fields of sunspots. Eventually, in 1917, Hale secured funding from John Hooker and the Carnegie Foundation to build a 100 inch telescope, the Hooker telescope, at Mount Wilson. This instrument was used almost immediately by Edwin Hubble to discover the expansion of the universe, revolutionizing the study of galactic astronomy and cosmology. Clearly, Mount Wilson Observatory is also a great historic astronomical site to visit if you are in the Los Angeles area. I could go on and on about the rich history of this observatory, which is still being used to make outstanding discoveries. Hale was alos instrumental in the construction of the Hale Solar Telescope in Pasadena, CA. In 1928, Hale launches plans to build the world’s largest telescope — a 200 inch diameter monster to be built atop Palomar Mountain near San Diego. Sadly, Hale died long before completion of the Mount Palomar telescope. However, in his honor, the 200 inch telescope is named the Hale Telescope. It was the largest telescope on Earth for nearly a half century. Naturally, the Palomar Mountain Observatory is also a fantastic place to visit if you are in southern California.Â
-Astroprof
Astroprof’s Page » The AAS Meeting Banquet on January 10, 2007 at 1:26 pm: 1
[…] Last night was the AAS Meeting banquet. The food was OK, though not worth what we paid for it. After the banquet, though, instead of the normal entertainment, we had a film. The film was a very professionally done and gripping story of George Ellery Hale, who I blogged about in an earlier post. The film ran about an hour past when the banquet was supposed to end (10:30pm PST). A lot of people had planned to leave part way through, but most everyone stayed to the end. This was a very, very good tale of Hale’s life, ambitions, and his work in building the Yerkes, Mt. Wilson, and Palomar Observatories. It was also a sad tale of a brilliant man beset by demons and mental breakdowns. The story was gripping and you just couldn’t stop watching. I gather that it may be shown on PBS at some point later in the year. If that happens, the everyone interested in astronomy should see it, and even if you aren’t interested in astronomy (so why are you reading my blog???), you should see it from the human standpoint. It was wonderfully done. […]