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Re: [ATM] 7 inch spherical mirror
He was a genius, Francis-
He followed his mentor, Andrew Ainslee Common, and noted the design features
of his 60" reflector, and knew that Ainslee just had not "developed" them
enough; so, Ritchey designed and re-invented the modern, symmetrical
equatorial mounted Cassegrain reflector of large aperture design; the
difference between his and Ainslee's was about two whole orders of
magnitude. It led rapidly to the 100" Hooker telescope; this is where
Ritchey began to run into trouble because of his recalcitrant, quirky
personality; this would dog him for decades until he more or less decided to
hide out, so to speak, on his citrus ranch in Asuza, California. Ritchey got
"fired" from part of the 100" project; he always favored the fork; but, by
Lordie, they were going to have a two pier closed English yoke for that
instrument; so Francis J. Pease finished the mounting design, but kept
Ritchey's mercury bearing floatation system to carry 95% of the weight of
the instrument.
Very few people know that it took the better part of ten years to debug the
100"; there was flexure when it was turned in right ascension towards the
horizon, and other problems. But what finally emerged was a masterpiece;
Ritchey's work on figuring the mirror guaranteed that. For a while, he was
even fired from the optical part; but they got him back for that.
I have that fine portrait of Ritchey, Chretien, looking on at their new
creation, the 20" first RC Cassegrain, ever. If you, or anyone else would
like it, it is pretty easy to send in an html email, or attached to a plain
text email. Let me know-
R-101
P.S.- I have no small satisfaction in noting that his tube looks very much
like mine, but has only one bay, instead of the two cantilevered bays in my
tube; wouldn't you know that I would imitate the genius. Ask for the
picture.
P.P.S.- The account in Osterbrock's book about how Ritchey dropped the 40"
mirror off of the sling it was in, being moved with a fork lift, and mangled
the observatory director's hand, who tried to stop the mirror -ye gads!- a
40" mirror, full thickness!!! They let it lay on the concrete for about a
week, for fear of finding out how badly damaged it was (the director's hand
was badly damaged). When they finally turned it over, only a "smallish" chip
was gone from the perimeter. This was the last straw for Ritchey at the
Naval Observatory; he got fired. Osterbrock tells of his other adventures in
his book; personal, scandalous secrets about Hale were told in the book
also.
Osterbrock makes out Hale and Adams as the bad boys who treated Ritchey with
shameless visciousness. Ritchey competed with them for his network, world
wide, of the coelostat fed tower telescopes (I have pictures of both
designs, can send also) while they were desperately seeking funds for the 5
meter; this really angered them. Out of spite, they did not provide the 5
meter with RC optics.
The book is well illustrated. "Ritchey, Hale, and Big American Telescope" by
Donald Osterbrock; University of Arizona Press (or): Arizona State
University Press.
Davey
----- Original Message -----
From: Guy Brandenburg
To: Francis J. O'Reilly ; David Harbour
Cc: atm@atmlist.net
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ATM] 7 inch spherical mirror
It's about $800 for half an evening.
"Francis J. O'Reilly" <foreilly@verizon.net> wrote:
And a terrible shame it was as Ritchey, this dour shop teacher from the
Midwest, in my estimation, was probably the greatest telescope optician that
has lived to date.
My dream is to rent a half an evening on the sixty inch someday,
Guy Brandenburg, Washington, DC
My home page on astronomy, mathematics, education:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfbranden/GFB_Home_Page.html
or else
http://tinyurl.com/r6fh2
=============================
"Education isn't rocket science. It's much, much harder."
(Author unknown)
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