Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale

The number of influential astronomers whose last names begin with "h" is truly amazing. Hipparchus, Halley, Herschel (the elder and junior), Humason, and Hubble. Not as well known, though no less important in his many contributions to the science, is the subject of Helen Wright's admirable biography, George Ellery Hale.Hale is perhaps justifiably he is remembered as the builder of giant telescopes. He built three of the greatest of all time, and spearheaded a fourth - the Palomar 200 inch - though he did not live to see it completed and named in his honor. However, Hale's considerable life's work goes much further. He was a groundbreaking solar astronomer, inventing new instruments and methods of studying the sun's activity. His invention of the spectroheliograph and subsequent discovery of the magnetic field lines of sunspots nearly earned him a Nobel prize (Hale was nominated for the Nobel prize in physics by many other recipients of that award - including Millikan. Wright repeats the story that Alfred Nobel did not like astronomers and wanted no astronomer to win that award, a bias which was not overcome until the 1970's). The Nobel Prize was the only major scientific honor that eluded Hale. He won the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London, the Janssen Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences (twice), the Rumford Medal, the Gold Medal of the RAS, the Draper Medal of the NAS, the Bruce Medal, the list goes on.Wright's work is organized by project rather than strictly chronologically. She details the founding of the Astrophysical Journal; his central role in the formation of the International Astronomical Union and the American Astronomical Society. Another chapter is devoted to his vision for the transformation of the Throop Institute of Pasadena into the venerable California Institute of Technology and attracting top-notch talent to its teaching and research staff. She spends considerable time detailing his network of friends and colleagues around the formation of the the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. One comes away with the distinct impression that Hale was a central and essential figure in burgeoning scientific establishment of the first half of the century.The degree to which he was esteemed by his colleagues is clear from the fact that he was offered the presidency of MIT and the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He turned down both. He also eventually resigned as director of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, both for health reasons and to allow him time to return to his own solar observatory.Though her work is perhaps slanted toward Hale's organizational and building activities, she also makes it clear throughout that his true love always remained that of plumbing the depths of stellar evolution, and he was always anxious to return to his own solar research.Though Wright does not explicitly point it out, it is implicit that Hale's greatest achievement was bridging the gap between the obs