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Reflector Book Review:
The Perfect Machine -
Building The Palomar Telescope
Category: Instrumentation
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The Perfect Machine - Building The Palomar
Telescope.
Ronald Florence
Harper Collins, 1994
ISBN 0-060-92670-8
Soft cover, $14.00.
To amateur astronomers, the 200-inch
telescope at Palomar is the stuff of dreams. We all
know of its existence. We all recognize pictures of
it. But the details of its conception and actual construction
are still shrouded in myth. For those who fear
having their fantasies destroyed by cold facts, don't
worry. The true story of building the Hale Telescope
is a tale of heroic struggle, romance, and genius to
rival any work of fiction.
Ronald Florence's account of building
the 200-inch appears to be the definitive work on the
subject. His facts ring true and he gives a full accounting
of his sources. I detected no favoritism or softening
of his treatment of the personalities and companies
involved, with the possible exception of George Hale
himself.
George Hale, the telescope's namesake,
was the project's main architect and protector. Without
George Hale, there would be no Palomar telescope. Hale
suffered from incapacitating periods of mental illness,
which Mr. Florence refers to as "Hale's Demons". The
text does not delve very deeply into the nature of Hale's
condition, but you do get flavor of the personal obstacles
he overcame to complete the project. Other than this
apparent "softening" of the commentary on Hale, Florence
pulls no punches. The whole story is there, warts and
all.
The most pleasant surprise in reading
this book is that it is entertaining! Even though he
is presenting a complex subject with mountains of facts,
the author manages to build suspense, develop characters,
and take you back in time. You share the anticipation
and concern of waiting for the great 200-inch
mirror blank to finally emerge from the oven. You get
a true flavor of not just the proceedings of the project,
but of the feel of the country and public opinion during
each phase of construction. You suffer through the internal
personality conflicts and numerous external attempts
to derail the effort at every turn. And, it all really
happened!
I highly recommend this book. For
amateur astronomers, it has plenty of detail and technical
data. For the casual reader, it gives a true flavor
of history and all the technical details are carefully
explained. For everyone, it is a story of inspiration
about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things
in the face of insurmountable odds, in the best American
tradition.
Robert Haler
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Reviewed in the August 1996 issue.
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