Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. The 20-ton, 200-inch lens for what would be the Hale Telescope after its arrival in Pasadena, CA, following a cross-country rail trip from Corning, NY. The giant waffle-patterned lens was made from Pyrex, then a new material, by the Corning Glass Works company. Astronomer George Ellery Hale, one of the founders of the California Institute of Technology, secured a $6 million grant from the Rockefeller Institute to build both an observatory and a telescope with a 200-inch primary mirror, to be administered through Cal Tech. Hale built his observatory on Mt. Palomar in San Diego County, 90 miles southeast from the Mt. Wilson observatory in Pasadena, which Hale had also founded in 1904. Construction of the Hale telescope was delayed by World War II, and the telescope did not see its first light until January 26, 1949. George Hale died in 1938, and thus did not see the telescope that bears his name completed. Text from original nitrate sleeve: Mt. Palomar lens. Handwritten annotation from nitrate negative: 200" lens at Cal Tech
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
