The Perfect Machine (79 page)

Ritchey’s arrogance: Osterbrock,
Pauper & Prince,
p. 154, points out that there is no correspondence with the signature Adams claimed Ritchey used, but plenty of instances of “Officer in Charge, Ordnance Department, Mount Wilson Observatory” or “Production Officer, Mount Wilson Observatory.” Ritchey on the disk is quoted in Hale, “The Astrophysical Observatory of the California Institute of Technology: The 200-inch Reflector,” supplement to
Nature
137: 3458 (1934), p. 224.

5. First Light

Adams on first light with the one-hundred-inch telescope:
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
59 (1947). Also, “Autobiographical Notes” [undated], CIT/Hale 92.

6. Wailing

On Hale in retirement: F. H. Seares, “George Ellery Hale: the Scientist Afield,”
Isis
30:2 (May 1939), p. 264.

Views of Shapley are quoted in C. Whitney,
The Discovery of Our Galaxy
(Angus & Robertson, 1972), p. 218, and in Adams to Hale, 10 December 1917, CIT/Hale 30. Shapley and Adams may also not have gotten along because they quarreled over the war: Shapley was not as hard on the Germans as Adams. See Robert W. Smith,
The Expanding Universe
(Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 93.

Much of the biographical work on Hubble has been muddled by the hagiographic diaries kept by his wife. Donald E. Osterbrock, Joel A. Gwinn, and Ronald S. Brashear have corrected the record from archival sources at the
Huntington Library. See “Edwin Hubble and the Expanding Universe,”
Scientific American,
July 1993, pp. 84–89.

Hubble’s dissertation is “Photographic Investigations of Faint Nebulae.” Its publication was delayed three years because of his war service. He wrote of resolving “condensations” in Messier 33 in “A Spiral Nebula as a Stellar System,”
Astrophysical Journal
63 (1926), pp. 236–74.

Hubble’s search for Cepheids: Hubble to Shapley, 24 August 1924, quoted in Smith,
The Expanding Universe,
p. 125. Hubble, “NGC6822, a Remote Stellar System,”
Astrophysical Journal
62 (1925), p. 432.

Hubble’s paper at the AAS: Stebbins to Hubble, 16 February 1925, AAS Archives. Quoted in Gingerich,
The Great Copernicus Chase,
pp. 236–37.

Early interest in the three-hundred-inch telescope: Markel to W. S. Adams, 30 September 1926, 1 October 1926. A. W. Christian to W. S. Adams, 13 September 1926, Huntington/Adams 66.1176. H. Shapley to W. S. Adams, 11 January 1927, Huntington/Adams 61.1077. A copy of the original drawing is in CIT/Hale 33. The model is in the attic of the Carnegie Observatories on Santa Barbara Street.

Einstein on the cosmological constant: “Cosmological Considerations on the General Theory of Relativity,”
The Principle of Relativity,
trans. W. Perrett and G. B. Jeffrey (Dover, 1952), p. 188.

Humason is quoted in John Kord Lagemann, “The Men of Palomar,”
Collier’s,
May 7, 1949, p. 66.

Hubble on the revolution in astronomy: Hubble to Shapley, 15 May 1929, quoted in Smith,
The Expanding Universe,
p. 197. Edwin Hubble, “A Relation Between Distance and Radial Velocity among Nebulae,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
15 (1927), pp. 169–73. Hale on relativity is quoted in Smith,
The Expanding Universe,
p. 173.

Hubble on future research:
The Realm of the Nebulae
(Yale University Press, 1936), p. 117.

7. Old Boys

Rose is quoted in Raymond B. Fosdick,
Adventure in Giving: the Story of the General Education Board
(Harper & Row, 1962), p. 229. His trip to Europe is described in Robert Jungk,
Brighter than a Thousand Suns
(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1962), p. 21. The changes in foundation policy are documented in General Education Board,
Review and Final Report, 1902–1964
(New York, 1964), p. 47.

The meeting in Rose’s office: Hale to Adams, 15 March 1928, quoted in Osterbrock,
Pauper & Prince,
p. 225. Rose’s correspondence with Hale is in CIT, Hale Papers, Box 35. The
Harper’s
article is
Harper’s Magazine
15 (1928) p. 639. Sending a copy to Rose: Hale to Lee Foster Hartman, Harper & Brothers, 15 February 1928, CIT/Hale 8.

Hale described the application process in “Autobiographical Notes,” CIT/Hale 92. The notes are not dated, but from internal references would seem to have been written in 1934 or 1935. See also Hale to Rose, 14 February 1928; Rose to Hale, 21 February 1928; Rose to Hale, 13 April 1928, CIT/Hale 35. The pencil draft, dated and sent 16 April 1928, is in CIT/Hale 35.

Thorkelson’s trip to Mount Wilson: Thorkelson Diary, 1 October 1926, IEB 1-21-312. Rose’s trip, Rose Diary, IEB 1-21-312.

The two-hundred vs. the three-hundred: Wickliffe Rose Diary, 10 April 1928, IEB 1-21-1032. Rose’s institutional preferences: Rose Diary, 12 April 1928, IEB 1-21-1032.

Endorsements of the proposal: Thorkelson to Adams, 23 April 1928. Rose to Arthur Day, 23 April 1928, IEB 1-21-312. Gano Dunn to Hale, 20 April 1928; Michelson to Hale, 26 April 1928, CIT/Hale 35.

8. The Politics of Money

Rockefeller on serving on the IEB is quoted in Fosdick,
Adventure in Giving,
p. 227. On Merriam: John Merriam to George Hale, 3 April 1928, CIT/Hale 3. Warren Weaver Diary, 31 January 1937, GEB 1-4-612-6473. Merriam’s letter to George Pritchett is quoted in Helen Wright,
Palomar: The World’s Largest Telescope
(Macmillan, 1952), p. 55. Proposal dead: George Hale to Wickliffe Rose, telegram, 28 April 1928; Rose Diary, 28 April 1928, IEB 1-21-312.

Damage control: Hale to Henry Robinson, telegram, 4 May 1928, CIT/Hale 30. Hale to Robinson, 16 October 1928, CIT/Hale. Pencil draft: Merriam and Root to Rose, 5 May 1928, CIT/Hale 30.

Merriam gives in: Thorkelson diary, 10 May 1928, IEB 1-21-312. Memo, Warren Weaver to Fosdick, 24 March 1929, GEB 1-4-612-6474. Merriam and Rose exchanged cordial though stiffly formal letters to confirm their new understanding. John Merriam to Wickliffe Rose, 3 May 28, IEB 1-21-312.

Merriam’s sham poll of the board: 11 May 1928, CIT/Hale 30. Rockefeller’s blessing: George W. Gray,
Education on an International Scale
(Greenwood Press, 1978).

9. Elation

Startup problems: Gano Dunn to Wickliffe Rose, 20 April 1928, CIT/Hale 35. Rose to Hale, 26 May 1928, IEB 1-21-312. Thorkelson Diary, 11 June 1928, IEB 1-21-313. Hale to Root, 14 June 1928, CIT/Hale 30.

Porter: Hale to Albert Ingalls, 10 August 1928, CIT/Hale 8. Berton C. Willard,
Russell W. Porter
(Bond Wheelwright Company, 1976), p. 177. The Anderson/Pease story is told in David O. Woodbury,
The Glass Giant of Palomar.
Woodbury often embellishes his tales, but he was a close friend of Porter, so this anecdote seems trustworthy. See also Willard,
Russell W. Porter,
p. 175f.

Problems with the one-hundred: Hale to Max Mason, 21 November 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Anderson’s design memo: CIT/Anderson 4.6.

Early negotiation with Thomson: Hale to George Ritchey, 5 March 1904, 31 March 1904, CIT/Hale 30. Deborah J. Mills, “George Willis Ritchey and the Development of Celestial Photography,”
American Scientist,
March 1966, p. 73. Elihu Thomson, “The 200-in. Telescope,”
GE Review
33: 3 (March 1930), p. 138f. Pease to Hale, 25 March 1925, CIT/Hale 33. Ellis budget: 30 March 1928, CIT/Anderson 4.2. Gerard Swope to Henry Robinson, 6 July 1928, IEB 1-21-314.

Startup rumors and the press: Adams to Hale, 8 September 1928; Adams to Robinson, 17 September 1928, Huntington/Adams 67.1189. Correspondence after the announcement, including Johnston to Hale, 20 December 1928, is in CIT/Hale 8.

10. Beginnings

Shapley’s opposition: Shapley to Adams, 11 January 1927. Huntington/Adams 61.1077.
The Diary of H. L. Mencken
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1989).

Sensitivity to Mount Wilson light pollution: Hale to Adams, 15 March 1928, quoted in Osterbrock,
Prince & Pauper,
p. 225. Site dispute: Arnett Diary, 24 September 1928; Thorkelson to George E. Vincent, 7 September 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Hale on Mount Wilson, quoted in Wright,
Palomar.

Anderson’s equipment: J. A. Anderson, “The Astrophysical Observatory of the California Institute of Technology,”
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Journal
(1942), p. 179–81. Anderson to Hale, 8 November 1928; Hale to Anderson, 7 December 1928, CIT/Hale 3. Hale to Anderson, 20 July 1928, 23 July
1928, CIT/Hale 3. Hale’s defense of Southern California: William H. Pickering to Hale, 17 November 1928. Hale to Pickering, 10 December 1928, CIT/Anderson 1.18. Arnett and the outside committee: Arnett Diary, 26 September 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Trevor Diary, 24 September 1928, IEB 1-21-314. “Summary of History to end of 1938” [internal Rockefeller Foundation memo]. GEB 1.4.612.6474.1103.1, p. If. Arnett to Hale, 26 September 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Hale to Arnett, 22 September 1928, CIT/Anderson 1.20. Hale to Arnett, 26 September 1928 and 29 September 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Arnett to GEH, 4 October 1928. GEH to Arnett, 4 October 1928, IEB 1-21-314.

The meeting in NY: Arnett Diary, 10 October 1928, IEB 1-21-314. Hale’s health: Hale to Merriam, 21 December 1928, CIT/Hale 8. Hale to Pickering, 10 December 1928, CIT/Anderson 1.18. A memo summarizing the status of the project in 1928 is in IEB 1-21-313.

On Pasadena in 1928, see Carey McWilliams,
Southern California Country: An Island on the Land
(Books for Libraries Press, 1970).

11. Hope

Early work at GE: John Winthrop Hammond, “Building a Looking-Glass to Mirror Unknown Stars,” GE internal publication [undated], p. 7If. Early budget disputes, A. E. Ellis to Anderson, 21 February 1929. CIT/Anderson 4.2. The earliest proposal for a ribbed mirror is in Thomson to Hale, 16 July 1928, CIT/Anderson 4.6.

Hale memos: Memorandum to Anderson and Pease, 16 September 1928, CIT/Hale 3. Memo on Committees, 21 January 1929, CIT/Anderson 1.17. Hale to Anderson, 29 June 1928, CIT/Anderson 1.5. J. E. Ross to Anderson, 8 November 1928, 19 November 1928, CIT/Anderson. Hale to Swasey, 4 September 1928, CIT/Anderson 2.1. Hale describes the early decisions in “Building the 200 Inch Telescope,”
Signals from the Stars,
p. 100. Anderson to H. J. Thorkelson, 22 October 1929, CIT/Anderson 1.22. The possibility of building the mounting in Southern California is in a Pease memo, 11 December 1928, CIT/Anderson 6.19.

12. Depression

Ammonia as a fuel: Ellis to Anderson, 14 August 1929, CIT/Anderson 4.2. Problems with fused quartz, Anderson to Ellis, 1 July 1929; Ellis to Anderson, 6 July 1929, 16 July 1929, CIT/Anderson 4.2. Anderson to Ellis, 14 November 1929, CIT/Anderson 4.2.

Ritchey’s designs: G. W. Ritchey, “L’Evolution de l’Astrophotographie et les Grands Télescopes de l’Avenir,”
Publié sous les Auspices de la Société Astronomique de France
(1929), plate 33. Adams, Anderson, Pease, Seares to Hale, 3 July 1928; Adams to Thorkelson, 28 August 1928, CIT/Anderson. Gérard de Vaucauleurs, “George W. Ritchey and the Dina Laboratory,”
Sky & Telescope
85:1 (January 1993), pp. 98–100. Anderson to H. J. Thorkelson, 22 October 1929, CIT/Anderson 1.22.

Robinson’s endowment funds lost: Brierly memo of meeting with A. H. Fleming, 19 December 1930, IEB.

Ideal material: Anderson to Ellis, 14 November 1929, CIT/Anderson 4.2. Ellis to Anderson, 14 August 1929, CIT/Anderson 4.2. Hale to Porter, 19 August 1929, CIT/Anderson 1.19. Hale to H. M. Robinson, 18 November 1929, CIT/Hale 30.

Hale’s mounting ideas: Memo to Anderson, 19 July 1928, CIT/Hale 3. On the ribbed design: Thomson memo, 24 November 1928, GE. Anderson to Thomson, 22 December 1928; Thomson to Anderson, 28 December 1928, CIT/Anderson 4.2.

13. Orderly Progress

The early Corning disks: McCauley to Sullivan et al., 11 September 1929, Corning. Also, McCauley, “Glass Mirrors at Corning …” [unpublished manuscript], Corning. G. V. McCauley, “Some Engineering Problems Encountered in Making a 200-Inch Telescope Disk,” talk at the Annual Meeting, American Ceramic Society, Buffalo, N.Y. (February 1935).

Thomson’s talk was later published in
GE Review
33:3 (March 1930), pp. 137–40.

Sixty-inch mirror preparations: Porter to Anderson, 15 August 1930, CIT/Anderson 1.19. Ellis to Anderson, 4 March 1930, IEB 1-21-316. The new budget is in an Ellis memo, 5 June 1930, CIT/Hale 30 (Robinson Papers).

Thomson and Ellis plan: Porter to Anderson, 15 August 1930, CIT/Anderson 1.19. New disasters: Ellis to Anderson, 4 December 1930, CIT/Anderson 4.3.

14. Change of Guard

Will Rogers on Einstein is in a letter to the editor,
Los Angeles Times,
March 6, 1931. Mrs. Einstein is quoted in Berendzen, Hart, and Seeley,
Man Discovers the Galaxies,
p. 200.

Hubble’s new research: Hale to Max Mason, 25 February 1931, CIT/Anderson 1.20. Humason to Hale, 9 March 1931, CIT/Hale 3. Einstein wavering on A: Eddington, “Forty Years of Astronomy,” p. 128. Einstein to Millikan, 1 August 1931, Millikan Papers, quoted in Judith R. Goodstein,
Millikan’s School
(W. W. Norton, 1992), p. 101.

Zwicky: Paul Wild, “Fritz Zwicky,”
Morphological Cosmology,
proceedings of the Eleventh Cracow Cosmological School, Poland, August 22–31, 1988, p. 392.

John Anderson, “Sinclair Smith,”
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
(August 1938), p. 12.

Adams on Bowen: Adams to Hale, 30 April 1928, CIT/Hale 35.

Mason and Hale on relativity: Hale to Max Mason, 8 November 1929. Max Mason to Hale, 12 November 1929, IEB 1-21-315. The same year that Einstein had written Hale, Millikan was working on an experiment to disprove another Einstein prediction.