The Perfect Machine (84 page)

staff of, 67-68

telescope drive at’, 61

women at, 306

in World War II, 353-355, 403

M31 (Andromeda), 20, 22, 62, 63, 67, 258, 302, 304, 305, 353, 354-355, 392, 397, 403

M32, 354-355

M33 (Triangulum), 20, 62, 63, 67, 302, 305

Murphy (CB&Q representative), 250

National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 50, 59, 71, 99, 124, 166, 167, 212, 226

debate at (1921), 3-12, 17-22, 61

Palomar grant and, 82-83

National Association of Science, 165

National Carbon Company, 140

National Defense Research Council (NDRC), 347, 352, 357

National Geographic Society, 397

National Research Council, 70, 71, 209

Naval Observatory, 70-71, 103, 129n

NBC, 197-198

nebulae, 61, 149, 302, 304, 354, 395

gaseous, 152-153, 361

novas and, 61, 62

red shift of, 66-69, 148-149, 240, 258, 303, 406

spiral, 19-22, 23n, 34, 61, 62, 63, 66-69, 110, 149

Neher, Victor, 152n

nervous exhaustion, 45

Newman, Ralph, 169, 170-171, 221, 239, 278

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, 226-227, 262

Newton, Sir Isaac, 13, 28, 33, 34, 97

New York Central Railway (NYCRR), 233, 247-25 ra-

New York Herald Tribune, 96

New York n, nes, 64, 102, 103, 162, 225, 291, 313, 359, 374, 393

NGC2261, 395

NGC6822, 62-63

Niedergasse (engineer), 117

Nordberg, M. E., 183-184

novas, 61-63, 258, 281, 353

Noyes, Alfred, 52, 54, 56n, 418

Noyes, Arthur, 26, 59, 79, 92, 113, 148, 157, 160, 161, 162, 163

observatory building, Palomar, 208, 243, 306-307, 402

construction of, 293-295, 316

design of, 243-244, 293, 309, 402

drive and control system for, 295, 309, 319, 321-322, 393, 411

windscreen in, 370-371

Observatory Council, 92, 112, 151, 161, 179, 208, 219, 281-282, 310-311

Corning Pyrex disk manufacturing and, 168, 173, 179, 182, 184, 188, 198, 200, 223, 239, 241, 272

endowment and, 335, 338

GE disk experiments and, 99-100, 118, 141, 157, 166, 174

Mason appointed head of, 276, 296

site selection and, 208, 211

Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), 357, 363

Oort, J. H., 386

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 72, 113, 358, 366

optics laboratory, Caltech California Street, 334

closing of, 389

plans and construction of, 125, 154-155, 160, 187, 195, 213, 243

workers at, 243, 269-270

in World War II, 347, 350

see also mirror, Palomar two-hundred-inch

optics laboratory, Mount Wilson Santa Barbara Street, 38, 154, 242, 243, 257, 260, 335, 341, 389

Ormondroyd, Jess, 263, 285

Oschin telescope, see Schmidt widefield telescopes

Osterhout, W. J. V., 11

Pacific Rigging, 375, 377

Page, James, 393

Palomar:

conditions on, 229-230, 255

description of, 108, 399-400, 401

development of, 209-210

land purchased on, 211

road built to, 211, 230, 292, 315, 373, 399

selected as site, 209-212

viewing conditions on, 109-110, 180, 209, 401-402

Palomar Observatory:

administration of, 76-77, 82-83, 90-91, 335-340

budget of, 418

electricity at, 316

endowment for, 91, 114, 131, 161, 335-340, 358

joint observatories and, 358-361, 418

residences at, 306, 315-316, 400-402

Schmidt wide-field telescopes at, 257-261, 281-282, 304, 306-307, 331, 334, 340-341, 371, 380, 388, 397, 405, 417

site work for, 244, 255, 256, 292

staff at, 413

tourists at, 317-318, 372, 399-400

women at, 305-306

Palomar (Hale) telescope:

astronomers’ impatience for, 396

charge-coupled devices (CCDs) used in, 408, 410, 417

clock drive for, 215-216

debate on usefulness of, 74

dedication ceremony for, 392-394

description of, 402-403

exercised during war, 352

final trials and adjustments of, 371, 381, 386-392, 394-398, 403-404

first images from, 395

first light of, 386-387

instrumentation for, 281, 308, 335, 388, 407-411, 416

maintenance of, 412-413, 418

as model for other telescopes, 414

operation of, after completion, 399-419

see also mirror, Palomar two-hundred-inch; mounting, Palomar telescope; observatory building, Palomar

Palomar (Hale) telescope project:

astronomers’ concerns about engineers’ role in, 329

budget of, 154, 281, 350, 364, 379, 385, 387-389, 391-392

building designs for, 125, 151, 213, 243, 256, 293; see also California Institute of Technology; observatory building, Palomar

committees of, 92, 112, 120, 228, 295

construction for, 255-257, 260

grant obtained for, 70-88, 91, 281, 313, 335

laborers for, 229-230, 255-257, 260, 292-293, 315, 343-344

McDowell’s transformation of, 227-229

media and, see media and publicity

project headquarters established for, 92

religious opposition to, 101, 103, 130, 160, 201, 374

seeing tests in, 107, 108

site selection in, 108-111, 180, 208, 209-212

team assembled for, 92-95

time estimates for, 208, 299, 334, 342

Woodbury’s book about, 244-245, 329-331

in World War II, 343-352, 357-361, 363-364

see also Observatory Council

Panama Canal, 41

Paris Exhibition (1900), 33

Parsons, Sir Charles, 121, 128

Pease, Francis, 73, 111, 118, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 129, 136, 141, 143, 144, 150, 154, 157, 158, 178-179, 185, 187, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 230, 261, 262, 264, 267, 275, 276, 335, 382

background of, 92-93

Corning Pyrex disk manufacturing and, 200, 202, 208, 225, 244

death of, 312, 314

disk shipment and, 253

Hooker telescope mounting of, 53, 56, 166, 185

McDowell’s style disliked by, 228-229, 295, 296, 297

optics and, 123

Porter’s hiring and, 94-95

three-hundred-inch telescope plans of, 64, 65, 70, 75, 76, 77, 92-93

in Woodbury’s book, 331

Pease, Mrs. Francis, 225

Pendray, Edward, 288

Perkins Observatory, 95-96, 139, 140

Perrine, Charles, 62-63

Philips Lamp Works, 97, 128

Pickering, Edward, 13-14, 26, 37

Poitras, Edward, 320-321, 336

Porter, Cole, 148

Porter, Russell W., 118, 124, 125, 132, 141, 143, 166, 185, 187, 188, 213, 216, 227, 244-245, 265, 270, 285, 316-317, 322, 334, 370, 410n

astrophysics laboratory designed by, 125, 151, 213

background of, 93-94

camping trips organized by, 268

at first light, 386

growing isolation and bitterness of, 213-214, 393

hiring of, 94-95

McDowell’s style disliked by, 295

mirror support mechanism and, 327

observatory building designed by, 243-244, 293, 402

optics laboratory designed by, 154, 155, 213, 243

residence designed by, 306

Schmidt wide-field telescope and, 259, 260

seeing-test telescope designed by, 107, 180

in Woodbury’s book, 331

Price, Anne McCauley, 176, 393-394

publicity, see media and publicity

Pupin, Michael, 148

Pyrex disks, see Corning Glass Works

quartz disks:

Corning work with, 415

see also General Electric

quasars, 406

Quigley, Leon V., 197, 198, 200, 205, 223, 224, 241, 246

Rabi, Isidor, 72

radio, 197-198, 245; see also wireless

railroads, 247-253

Ray ton, W. B., 68

Reader’s Digest, 329

red shift, 66-69, 148-149, 240, 258, 303, 406, 418

red stars, 354-355

reflector telescopes, 28, 33

refractor telescopes, 28-29, 33-34

relativity, 3-4, 8, 65-66, 69, 148-149, 151-152, 153

Richie, Robert, 246

Richter, Charles, 209

Riggs, Dr., 58

Ritchey, George W., 35, 38, 39, 61, 96, 98-99, 123, 128-129, 414, 415

Hale’s dispute with, 48

Hooker telescope project and, 42, 46, 47-49, 50, 55

sanctimoniousness of, 50-51

Robertson, A. W., 291

Robinson, Henry, 84, 92, 331

endowment committed by, 91, 114, 131, 161, 335

GE disks and, 100, 132-133, 157, 163

Palomar land purchased by, 211

Robinson, William, 339

Rockefeller, John D., 36, 71, 73, 336

Carnegie’s rivalry with, 81-82, 86

Palomar grant and, 81, 82, 88

Rockefeller Foundation, 85, 104, 105, 111, 158, 159, 165, 276, 282, 298, 313

budget problems and, 364, 379, 385, 387-388, 391-392

and Carnegie endowment of Palomar, 335-340

creation of, 81-82

General Education Board of, 71-80, 158, 276

Harvard College Observatory and, 60

International Education Board of, 71-88, 89, 91, 92, 105, 110, 114, 132, 158, 208, 259, 276

Palomar project inherited by, 153

World War II and, 348, 350

Roebling, John, 41

Rogers, Will, 148

Rintgen, Wilhelm, 59

Roosevelt, Franklin, 197, 347, 348

Roosevelt, Theodore, 36, 45

Root, Elihu, 36, 45, 83

Palomar grant and, 85-87, 218, 336

Rose, Wickliffe, 71-88, 89, 91-92, 100, 105, 106, 110, 111, 134, 153, 158, 389

Ross, Frank E., 123, 214, 345, 401

Rosse, Lord, 20, 97

Rule, Bruce, 311, 342, 352, 363, 364, 370-371, 376, 379, 386, 389-390, 391, 392n, 393, 403

Runyon, Damon, 197

Ruocco, Joe, 224, 225

Russell, Henry Norris, 12, 14, 21, 22, 50, 59, 63, 76, 107

Rutherford, Ernest, 105

Saint-Gobain glassworks, 35, 42, 43, 46

Sandage, Allan, 404, 405, 406, 418

San Diego, Calif., 212, 401

Santa Fe railroad, 247, 376

Schiaparelli, Giovanni, 44

Schmidt, Bernhard, 258-260, 281

Schmidt, Maarten, 406, 418

Schmidt wide-field telescopes, 152, 304, 354, 392, 404

Palomar eighteen-inch, 257-261, 281, 304, 306-307, 331, 405

Palomar forty-eight-inch (Oschin), 281-282, 334, 340-341, 371, 380, 388, 397, 417, 418

Schrodinger, Erwin, 72, 148

Schuller, Robert B., 114

science, American in 1920s, 89-90

Americans’ view of, 7-8, 159-160

Scientific American, 31, 93, 125, 213, 225, 328

Seares, Frederick, 5, 123, 129, 217

Seares, Robert, 405

Serrurier, Mark, 227, 230, 261, 262, 267, 286, 287, 289-290, 293, 294, 295, 311, 315, 316, 364, 390, 414, 415

background of, 214-215

McDowell’s style disliked by, 295, 296-297

marriage proposal of, 307

Serrurier, Naomi, 307

Shapley, Harlow, 54, 63, 64, 67, 109, 115, 120, 147, 302, 305, 374, 381, 392, 403

appointed Harvard College Observatory director, 59-60

background of, 5

Cepheid research and, 13-17

considered for joint observatories directorship, 359, 361

Corning disk order of, 191, 223, 280

GE disk criticized by, 155-156, 161

Hale’s interview of, 50

Hale symposium of, 313

NAS debate and, 2-12, 17-23, 61

Palomar project criticized by, 96, 101, 104-105, 142, 223, 394, 403

Southern Station supported by, 105, 110, 111

Woodbury’s book and, 330

Shapley, Martha Betz, 5

Shapley, Mildred, 16

Sherburne, G. W., 125, 253, 265, 287

Silberstein, Ludwik, 67

Simonson, D. H., 251

Sinclair, Upton, 114

SKF Industries, 243

Sliphcr, Vesto, 66, 69