The History of the Telescope

by King, Henry C.

• ISBN13: 9780486432656
• ISBN10: 0486432653
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-02
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

This remarkable history encompasses not only the achievements of the early inventors and astronomers but also the less frequently recounted stories of the instrument makers and of the actual instruments. A model of unsurpassed, comprehensive scholarship, this volume covers many fields, including professional and amateur astronomy. 196 black-and-white illustrations.

Table of Contents

	p. 1
The beginnings of astronomical observation
Ionian and Pythagorean cosmology
Plato and Aristotle
Results achieved by the Alexandrian School and the instruments used
Arabian instruments
Transition of scientific knowledge into Western Europe
The Copernican system
Instruments and observational work of Tycho Brahe
	p. 25
Early references to lenses and to optics--Alhazen and Vitello
Bacon's references to magnifying glasses
The invention of spectacles
Leonard Digges and vision through lenses; his use of lens-mirror systems
Bourne's remarks on lenses
The manufacture of the first refracting telescope by Lippershey
The claims of Metius and Jansen
	p. 34
The application of the telescope to astronomy by Galileo
His visit to Rome and the naming of the telescope
His sunspot observations and Harriot's similar work between 1609-1613
Early methods of observing sunspots
The publication of Il Saggiatore and the Dialogues
Galileo's trial and recantation
Scheiner's 'helioscope'
Remarks on three of Galileo's telescopes
Kepler's contribution to optics
	p. 48
Descartes' failure to improve the telescope
Reasons for making refractors of long focal length
Account of the long refractors constructed by Hevelius and Huygens
Huygens' aerial telescope and compound negative eyepiece
Seventeenth-century methods of lens making
Cassini's observations at Paris
Attempts in London to improve the telescope
Trials with Huygens' 123-foot telescope
The work of Campani and Divini
	p. 67
Newton's dispersion investigations
The invention of the Gregorian, Newtonian, and Cassegrain systems
Description of Newton's instruments and methods
Hadley's 6-inch Newtonian--his method of grinding and testing specula
Hadley's octant
The marketing of Gregorians by Short--some account of his instruments
Mirror construction as practised by Mudge and Edwards
	p. 93
Gascoigne and Picard use telescopic sights
Gascoigne's invention of the eyepiece micrometer and its development by Auzout and Hooke
The application of telescopic sights to mural quadrants and Romer's invention of the transit instrument
The development of the quadrant by Langlois, Sharp, and Graham
Graham's zenith sectors
Instruments made by Sisson and Bird
	p. 120
The telescopes used by Herschel at Bath
His work at Datchet with 20-foot reflectors
Construction of the 40-foot Slough reflector--observations made with it
Various small telescopes made by Herschel
Schroter's work at Lilienthal
Space-penetrating power, magnification, and mirror performance
The discovery of infra-red radiation
	p. 144
Hall's invention of the achromatic lens
The marketing of achromatic telescopes by J. Dollond
His divided object-glass micrometer
Trouble over P. Dollond's patent
The researches of Euler, Klingenstierna, Clairaut, and d'Alembert in achromatism
P. Dollond's triple achromatics
Ramsden's Shuckburgh equatorial
His dividing engines, micrometers, and positive compound eyepiece
Ramsden's theodolite and vertical circles
	p. 176
Guinand's contributions to flint-glass manufacture
Glassmaking at Benediktbeuern
Fraunhofer's object-glasses
The Dorpat and other Fraunhofer telescopes
Fraunhofer's pioneer experiments in physical optics
Fluid lenses as constructed by Blair and Barlow
The optical work of Tulley
Early nineteenth-century reflectors
J. Herschel's expedition to the Cape of Good Hope
	p. 206
Rosse's experiments with compound specula
The performance of his 3-foot reflector
Description of the 6-foot Rosse reflector--its performance and the reasons for its failure
Nasmyth's specula and 20-inch altazimuth reflector
Lassell's equatorial reflectors--the 48-inch reflector at Malta
De la Rue pioneers in solar and lunar photography
The Kew photoheliograph
Pritchard's photographic work at Oxford
	p. 229
Cassini IV's troubles at the Paris Observatory with French instrument-workers
Ramsden's delay in sending Cassini's instruments
J. and E. Troughton set up in business--their dividing engines
Instruments made by E. Troughton and W. Simms
Airy's altazimuth and transit circle at Greenwich
Heliometers made by the Repsolds
Gambey, Gautier, and Secretan
	p. 246
The first American observatories
The Cincinnati and Harvard refractors
Early photography by the Bonds at Harvard
Merz object-glasses
Cooke and the Newall telescope
The Buckingham and Craig telescopes
Early work of A. Clark and his construction of the 26-inch Washington telescope
	p. 261
Liebig's silvering process
Silver-on-glass reflectors by Steinheil and Foucault
Grubb's Melbourne telescope
H. Draper's success with silver-on-glass mirrors
Brashear's silvering process
With's mirrors and their performance
Dawes and resolving power
Calver's work for Common and the latter's use of long exposures in photography
The siderostat and coelostat
	p. 282
Early history of spectrum analysis
Methods adopted in astronomical spectroscopy
Huggins pioneers in astrophysics
Prominence spectroscopes
The work of Rutherfurd in astronomical photography and of H. Draper and Huggins in spectrography
Instruments used by E. C. Pickering in his spectrographic and photometric surveys at Harvard
H. Grubb's photographic telescopes
Developments in short-focus photography
	p. 306
Visual, photographic, and photovisual refractors of the late nineteenth century
Large visual refractors made by A. Clark and Sons, Henry-Gautier, and H. Grubb
The early work of Warner and Swasey
The Lick Observatory and 36-inch Lick refractor
Keeler and the Crossley reflector
The 40-inch Yerkes refractor
	p. 320
Hale's invention of the spectroheliograph
His early work with this instrument at Kenwood and Yerkes
Events leading to the foundation of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory
Solar research with the Snow telescope
Construction and performance of the 60-inch reflector
The 100-inch Hooker reflector
Interferometer measurements of stellar diameters
65-foot and 150-foot vertical solar telescopes at Mount Wilson
The spectrohelioscope
	p. 346
The Zeiss foundation--interesting Zeiss telescopes
Brashear's 30-inch Thaw photographic refractor
The 72-inch Victoria reflector
Ritchey's work with aplanatic reflectors
The invention of the Schmidt system and its rapid development
Important Schmidt-type telescopes
Lyot's early work with the coronagraph
Tower telescopes at the McMath-Hulbert Observatory
The coating of optical surfaces
	p. 387
The 74-inch Toronto reflector and smaller Grubb-Parsons telescopes
The 74-inch Pretoria telescope
The transit circle for the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, by Cooke, Troughton and Simms
Large McDowell and Fecker telescopes
The 82-inch McDonald reflector
Design, construction, and erection of the Palomar Mountain Observatory and 200-inch Hale telescope
	p. 417
Large telescopes built by amateurs
Metcalf's photographic lenses
Work for the amateur
Telescopes designed by Porter
Fixed-eyepiece and coude telescopes
Gautier's 49-inch Paris horizontal refractor
Plans for the 98-inch Isaac Newton telescope at Herstmonceux
The 120-inch Lick reflector
Results achieved with radio telescopes
Electronic devices--the coronaviser
The atmospheric barrier
Index	p. 445
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