|
Flamsteed Astronomy Society |
|
“The Other Six” — The World’s Great Refractors June 9, 2005 |
|
Appendix 1: Some of the Builders |
|
Grubb · Thomas Grubb (1800-1878), founder, chief engineer of the Bank Of Ireland, inventor of printing machinery, and amateur astronomer · 1834 Armagh 15-in reflector · Refractors for Mahree (13-in) and Dunsink (12-in) · Son Howard (1844-1931) joined in 1865 -- Thomas retires 1868 · 1868-9 building of 48-in Great Melbourne Reflector last large speculum mirror instrument · 1880 27-in Vienna refractor, then the world’s largest · Knighted 1887 · Supplied 7 refractors for the Astrographic Survey · 1914-18 military equipment (St Albans) – perfected periscope. · 1925 bought by Charles Parsons – Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons, & Co. (Newcastle). Howard retires
|
|
Sir Howard Grubb 1844—1931 |
|
Clarks · Alvan originally a portrait painter. Sees Harvard 15-in by Merz · Fails at first to get business · 1854 Sells lens in England · 1862 18½-in Dearborn Observatory Refractor (Chicago) -- A G Clark discovers Sirius B · 1873 26-in Washington USNO Refractor -- 1877 Asaph Hall discovers Diemos & Phobos · Five times built the world’s largest refractors—Dearborn, USNO, Pulkovo, Lick, & Yerkes
|
|
Alvan Clark 1804—1887 |
|
Alvan Graham Clark 1832—1897 |
|
Paul Pierre Henry 1848—1905 |
|
Prosper Mathieu Henry 1849—1903 |
|
Henry Brothers · Assistants at the Paris Observatory from 1864/5 · Started building lenses for Observatory projects · 1885 built the prototype 33 cm lens for the Astrographic survey —photographed 2326 stars in the Pleiades area (best previous visual count 50). This instrument became the pattern for all the Astrographic instruments deployed on the international project · Became associated with instrument maker Paul Gautier with the Astrographic instruments and refractor projects for Lyons, Paris, Nice, Meudon & Toulouse · Nice (Cote d’Azur) was world’s largest. Paris Meudon is Europe’s largest surviving refractor and world’s 3rd largest.
|
|
page 7 of 8 |