12/4/2023 0 Comments Big telescope drawingCenturies later, Galileo’s is still held in such high esteem not only for the groundbreaking research he conducted, but because of his immense ingenuity in developing his own research tools.Īnd at the center of it all is Galileo’s famous telescope, which still inspires curiosity centuries later. And what he saw would forever revolutionize the field of astronomy, our understanding of the Universe, and our place in it. The letter that accompanied the medal said “In recognition of the valuable services rendered to Astronomy by you as the fellow-worker of your immortal brother, Sir William Herschel”.In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei looked up at the heavens using a telescope of his making. In 1846, I was given the Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia. This was amazing since it was an all male organization. I was a great help to my brother and in 1835 the Royal Astronomical Society gave me an honorary fellowship in recognition of my work. The discovery was very well known at the time, though no one could explain the meaning of the spiral arms.Ĭredit: Image courtesy of Anna and Don York, 2011 Because the telescope collected just over twice as many photons in a given time as Herschel's 48-inch, and because the images were better, Lord Rosse was able to discover the spiral arms in galaxies with this telescope. The observer stood on the platform at the top end of the telescope, just as with Herschel's 48-inch diameter telescope. The telescope was raised and lowered with a windlass located behind the telescope. The Leviathan of Parsontown: The black tube with the white cap is raised and lowered between two stone walls rather than the wooden frame used by Herschel. The idea that this Leviathan could be a better telescope than William’s kept me laughing the entire day when I first heard about it. I was living back in Hanover with my younger brother Dietrich. By the time it was completed, William had died and I was 95 years old. It was known as ‘The Leviathan of Parsontown’. Lord Rosse’s telescope with its 72-inch mirror was the largest in the world, surpassing our forty-foot. In 1845, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, built a telescope at his estate, Birr Castle, in Ireland. Telescopes kept getting bigger in the quest to produce clearer images. I was happy to finally have some money of my own! I was paid fifty pounds per year whereas William was paid two hundred pounds per year. This made me the first woman in England to be paid for working in astronomy. I remained his assistant and was even given a yearly pension from the King at this time. This time, instead of shouting down at me, William would talk to me through a speaking tube. William would observe from a platform high on the telescope and I would write his notes in a hut down below. The mirror was 48 inches in diameter and the tube was 40 feet long. In 1785 the King paid William to make what was known as the ‘Great Forty-Foot.’ When this telescope was finished four years later, it was the biggest telescope in the world and remained so until 1845. His instruments became the best you could buy. William continued to make bigger telescopes to better see the objects for his survey of the faintest stars in the sky. This drawing is from The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel published in London in 1912 by the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomy Society.Ĭredit: The University of Chicago Library Ultimately Sir William and Caroline found the 20-foot more useful for some purposes. Herschel's Forty-foot telescope: William Herschel built a 40-foot telescope under the patronage of King George III.
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