A Famous Telescope

There are famous telescope makers and there are famous telescopes. Like the Clarks, makers of incredibly gorgeous, high-performance refractors prized even today, George Willis Ritchey was a unique personality in telescope making history. His 24-inch reflector, currently on display at the Chabot Science Center in Oakland, California, was a ground-breaking telescope that proved to a grudging astronomical community that reflectors could take high-resolution photographs. To be sure, Isaac Roberts and Henry Draper had used smaller reflectors for astrophotography before Ritchey, but Ritchey's 24-inch and Lick Observatory's Crossley 36-inch (after Perrine extensively modified it) paved the way for modern reflectors over the increasingly cumbersome refractor in astrophysical research. Donald Osterbrock's "Pauper and Prince: Ritchey, Hale, and Big American Telescopes" is a fascinating account of Ritchey's life.

Here's Chabot's museum description of the telescope.

http://www.chabotspace.org/vsc/exhibits/califastronomy/ritchey.asp

And here's a really neat article on the Crossley.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/butowsky5/astro4c.htm

Burnham Memorial Project

For those of you who haven't discovered it yet, "Burnham's Celestial Handbook" is quite possibly the most wide-ranging astronomy book every published. At something over 1,000 pages (in 3 volumes), Burnham wrote about virtually every object of interest that is viewable in telescopes between two- and 12-inches aperture. Based on his own experience viewing the skies from (and using the library of) Lowell Observatory, the book instantly became a classic in amateur astronomy circles.

Burnham's rather tragic life was documented by a writer in 1997 in the Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper. It turned out that, after assisting with a proper motion survey at Lowell, Burnham had a sort of a mental "breakdown" and disappeared. No one knew where he was. He later surfaced at Balboa Park in San Diego selling paintings of cats, and died a few years later of heart failure.

Now, some amateur astronomers have put together a memorial website and are working with the Lowell Observatory to possibly erect a small memorial to Burnham at Lowell. Check out

http://rbjm.org/