Read The Perfect Machine Online
Authors: Ronald Florence
astrophysics laboratory at, 125, 151, 160, 213
astrophysics machine shop at, 154, 257, 265, 346, 350, 364, 370, 392
budget problems and, 387-389, 391-392
California Street optics laboratory of, 154-155, 160, 187, 195, 213, 243, 269-270, 334, 347, 350, 389; see also mirror, Palomar two-hundred-inch
endowment and, 91, 114, 131, 335-340, 358
faculty recruited for, 151-152
Geology Department of, 209, 211
in Great Depression, 159-160
growth of, 113-114, 148-150
Mount Wilson’s tense relations with, 150-151, 217-219, 335-340, 418
Palomar grant and, 75, 76, 78, 79, 86, 87, 88, 91, 105
site selection and, 209, 211
in World War II, 347-349, 363-364
Carlson, Llewellyn, 318
Carnegie, Andrew, 8, 36, 47, 48, 70, 77
Mount Wilson visited by, 44-45
NAS building funded by, 82-83
Rockefeller’s rivalry with, 81-82, 86
Carnegie Institution, 36-40, 75-76, 111-112, 159, 165, 208, 335-340
establishment of, 36
Hooker telescope project and, 42, 43, 47, 90
Mount Wilson-Caltech relations and, 217, 219, 335-340, 417-418
Palomar endowed by, 335-340, 358, 389, 391
Palomar grant and, 75, 79-88
Carpentier, Georges, 60
Carty, J. J., 78, 79, 85, 86, 87, 111, 168
Cepheid variable stars, 14-15, 22n-23n, 50, 60, 62, 63, 67, 69, 105, 258, 281, 302, 353, 395, 403-404, 406
Chadwick, James, 215
Chaplin, Charlie, 49
charge-coupled devices (CCDs), 408, 410, 414, 417
Chase, Stuart, 159
Chretien, Henri, 50, 123, 129n, 414
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 212
Clark, Alvan, 26, 30, 31, 103
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, 247
Coe, Conway, 347
Cole, Nate, 247
Collier’s, 380
Compton, Karl, 347
Conant, James, 347, 357
Condon, Edward, 72
Congress, U.S., 159
Consolidated Steel, 292-295
Copernicus, Nicolaus, 18
Cornell University, 418
Corning Evening Leader, 198, 203, 207
Corning Fire Department, 235
Corning Glass Works, 77, 165-207, 209, 220-226, 232-241, 244-254, 280-281, 340-341
additional telescope projects of, 191-192, 223, 233-234
custard cup technique attempted at, 175
description of, 137-138, 232
disk costs at, 139-140, 168, 340
early Pyrex experiments at, 138-140, 158
earthquake at, 241
failed two-hundred-inch disk produced at, 199-207, 209, 220-223, 389
flood at, 234-237
GE quartz disk efforts and, 168, 173-174, 175
media, publicity and, 168-169, 181, 196-205, 208, 223-225, 236, 239-240, 244-247, 249, 250
new Pyrex formulation developed at, 189
new mold anchor design at, 221-222
New York meeting with, 167-169
120-inch disk produced by, 190-195, 345
Pyrex blocks produced by, 274
Pyrex solubility problem discovered at, 183-184, 188-189
quartz disks produced by, 415
sagging technique at, 174, 340
Schmidt disks produced at, 340-341
shipping and, 222, 233
successful two-hundred-inch disk produced at, 223-226, 232-241, 244-254
test and auxiliary disks produced at, 169-195
third two-hundred-inch disk proposed at, 278, 281, 282, 298
two-hundred-inch disk shipped by, 247-254
wages at, 225
Coue, Emile, 89
Coughlin, Charles C., 219, 245
Couts, Cave C., 211
Crab Nebula, 354
Crossley, Edward, 34
Crossley reflector, 19-20, 34, 383 see also Lick Observatory
Crown, George, 176
cummings, e. e., 148
Curtis, Heber, 35, 61, 122, 158, 225, 383
background and personality of, 5-6, 18-19
Corning disk order of, 191, 223, 233, 237, 280
NAS debate and, 2-9, 18-23, 61
Curtiss, Hanford, 202, 204
dark matter, 308
Day, Arthur L., 46, 80, 165, 168, 178, 189, 198, 202, 209, 217-218, 244, 276
American Ceramic Society speech of, 196-197
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, 247, 251
Depression, Great, 130-131, 142, 158-160, 161, 179, 183, 197-198, 219, 245-246, 334, 343-344
de Sitter, Willem, 150, 303
Dina, Assan Farid, 96
Dirac, Paul, 148, 362
dome, see observatory building, Palomar
Doppler shift, see red shift
Dowd, Jerry, 58, 260, 294, 331
Draco, 304
DuBridge, Lee A., 391-392, 393
DuMond, Jesse, 152n
Dunham, Theodore, 147, 166, 194
David Dunlap Observatory, 191
Dunn, Gano, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84, 87, 89, 111, 120, 124
Du Pont, 141, 357
Du Pont telescope, 135n
earthquakes, 241, 269
Eddington, Sir Arthur S., 4, 16, 150
Edison, Thomas, 98, 102, J15, 169, 172
Eiffel, Gustave, 41
Einstein, Albert, 59, 65--66, 69, 148-150, 151, 153, 166, 209, 217, 240, 291, 304, 314, 359, 380
celebrity of, 7-8, 148
Germany left by, 160--161
NAS debate and, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12
Einstein, Mrs. Albert, 149
Ellerman, Ferdinand, 107-108, 180, 253
Ellis, A. L., 100, 115-119, 122, 126, 127, 128, 132-136, 140-147, 154-158, 161-164, 166-167, 171, 173
doubts about mirror harbored by, 134-135
Ellis, Guerdon, 21 t
Enterprise Engine Company, 316
Epstein, Paul, 124, 178, 214
Eveleth, C. E., 167
Fecker & Co., 60
Ferguson, Homer, 226-227, 262
Fermi, Enrico, 72
Feynman, Richard, 372n
Fie1 & Cie., 28
Fleming, A. H., 131
Flemming, Williammina P., 14
Flexner, Abraham, 71
Flexner, Simon, 85
Flying Horse Telescope Oil, 319, 402
Ford, Hannibal, 229, 310-311, 320
Ford, Henry, 10, 343
Fore River Shipbuilding Company, 53, 125
Fonune, 159, 179, 284
Fosdick, Raymond, 88, 276, 337, 339, 341, 388, 393
Foshay, Wilbur, 139
Foucault, J. B. L., 324
foundations, operation of, 79-80, 81-82
Foussat (sheep farmer), 210
Fredericks, Frank, 288, 317, 318
Friedmann, Aleksandr, 66
Froebel, Guenther, 264, 287
Gage, O. A., 167, 191, 201
galaxies:
clusters of, 308, 360
island universes debate and, 4, 20-23, 61, 62-63, 383
use of term, 302
see also nebulae
Galileo Galilei, 18, 28
Gehring, Dr., 49
General Education Board (GEB), 71-80, 158, 276
see also International Education Board
General Electric, 77, 98-100, 111, 115-120, 126-130, 132-136, 140-147, 154-158, 161-164, 165-167, 171, 229, 263, 388
bills and cost estimates from, 119, 127-128, 132, 140, 143, 147, 157, 163, 168
Corning Pyrex disk manufacturing and, 168, 173-174, 175
dropped as disk maker, 157-158, 161-164, 165-167
fuel consumption at, 126-127, 140-141
publicity department of, 142, 147, 162, 166-167, 168-169
General Petroleum Corp., 318
Geology Department, Caltech, site selection and, 209, 21 1
Gianetti, Miss (secretary), 58-59, 121, 186, 230, 275
Glass Industry, The, 147
globular clusters, 15-18, 22n-23n, 50, 302, 360
“Gospel of Wealth, The” (Carnegie), 81
Goudsmit, Samuel, 72
Graf Zeppelin, 102
Green, Lloyd, 379
Greenstein, Jesse, 362, 391-392, 399
Grey, Earl, 46
Griffith Observatory, 389
Groves, Leslie, 357
Gunn, Jim, 418
Guttenberg, Beno, 209
Hale, Evelina Conklin, 26, 27, 29-30, 38, 43, 47, 393
Hale, George, vii, 24, 58, 69, 89, 97, 135, 148, 153, 160, 161, 213, 217, 226-227, 228, 231, 263, 282, 291, 295, 299, 305, 310, 324, 338, 344-345, 358, 383, 415
assessment of, 313-314
background and family of, 25-27
Caltech-Mount Wilson relations and, 150, 151, 217, 218, 219
Corning Pyrex disk manufacturing and, 166, 168, 171, 177, 178, 185, 189, 194, 195, 198, 209, 241, 244
death of, 312-313
disk shipment and, 233, 247, 248, 250, 253
financing of early projects of, 26, 30, 31, 35-37, 38, 41-47, 90
foreign trips of, 46, 47-48, 58, 111-112, 120-121, 194
GE disk experiments and, 98, 100, 115, 118, 140, 141, 142, 146, 154, 157, 158, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167
Harper’s article of, 73, 79, 83, 139
headaches and visions of, 25, 26, 32, 43, 45-46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 58, 78, 90, 110-111, 121, 135, 180, 186, 194, 218, 225, 230, 244, 247, 275-276, 286
I-Iooker telescope project and, 41-57
Lick telescope visited by, 29-30
McDowell’s style and, 296
Mason’s trust of, 153-154
media and, 100-103, 142, 168, 169, 179, 181, 208
Mount Wilson sixty-inch project and, 37-39, 41
NAS debate and, 3-4, 5, 11, 23
Palomar buildings and, 151, 155, 255, 315
Palomar grant and, 64, 70-88, 91, 92, 132, 134, 154, 281, 336, 388
Palomar mirror design group and, 179-180
Palomar mounting design and, 124, 135, 186, 212, 214
Palomar site selection and, 106-111, 180, 209, 210, 401
Ritchey’s dispute with, 48
Schmidt wide-field telescope and, 259, 260
semi-retirement of, 58-59
telescope named for, 313-314, 393
Westinghouse work and, 286
Woodbury’s book and, 331
worsening condition of, 275-276
Yerkes Observatory and, 31-36, 39-40, 41
Hale, Mrs. William, 25, 30
Hale, William, 25, 26, 30, 35, 90
Hale telescope, see Palomar telescope
Hall, George, 373-374, 380, 392
Hamburg Observatory, 258
Hammond, John W., 142, 147
Harding, Warren Go, 10, 85
Harper, William, 30
Harper’s Magazine, 73, 79, 83, 139
Harrington, Robert, 397
Harris (ladler), 225
Harris, Fred, 410, 414
Harrison, Nathan, 210n
Hartness, James, 94
Harvard College Observatory, 26, 105, 155, 359
disk order for, 191, 223, 280
Shapley appointed director of, 5, 59-60
Harvard College Observatory Circular, 14
Heisenberg, Werner, 72, 148
Henderson (Warner & Swasey official), 225
Hendrix, Don, 341, 367-368, 385, 386, 392, 394-398, 404
Herbert, James, 218
Hertzsprung, Ejnar, 14, 15
Hickman (ladler), 225
Hill, Byron, 255-257, 260, 292, 294, 295, 296, 307, 364, 382n
after completion, 405, 413, 414
and final trials and adjustments, 389, 391, 395
mirror coating and, 385
mirror installation and, 386
mirror move and, 373, 376, 377, 378, 379
mounting assembly and, 315, 316, 317, 318, 322, 342, 370
residence construction supervised by, 315-316
telescope balanced by, 371-372
Weber’s truck hoisted by, 372
in World War 11, 352
Zwicky’s conflict with, 260
Hodgkinson, Francis, 264-265
Hoge, W. P., 53
Hogness, To, 72
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 46
Hood, Harrison, 183, 189
Hooker, John Do, 41-42, 43, 46-47, 48, 77, 79, 90
Hooker, Mrs. John D., 43
Hooker telescope (one-hundred-inch telescope), 41-57, 62-63, 90, 123, 383, 418
corrective lens for, 68
first light at, 52-56
glass disk for, 42-43, 44, 46, 171
mirror grinding for, 47-48, 49, 53
mounting of, 53-56, 90, 157, 166, 185
temperature problems of, 55-57, 96, 144, 157-158
Hoover, Herbert, 102, 255, 336-337
Hostetter, J. Co, 167, 168, 173, 203, 206, 229, 245
Corning left by, 275
undue credit claimed by, 194, 221, 240-241, 272
Houghton, Amory, 165, 181, 198, 200, 205, 209, 223, 224, 241, 273, 274-275, 278, 281, 282, 298, 340
Houghton family, 137, 139
Howland, Charles P., 109
Hubble, Edwin, vii, 75, 240, 253, 281, 302-303, 304, 305, 359, 380-381, 397, 403, 404
background of, 60-61