Stargazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope

At the heart of any astronomical discussion is the telescope, which brought the science to life; so at the heart of any school or public library holding including astrology should be Fred Watson's Stargazer: The Life And Times Of The Telescope, a satisfying blend of history and science which charts the telescope's invention, evolution, importance, and modern abilities. Dr. Watson is Astronomer-in-Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Australia, responsible for the scientific output of the country's largest optical telescope: this survey Stargazer provides a pleasing modern history.

This book is nominally about telescopes. But it's more than that. Telescopes have been the ultimate interaction between hard core science (Newton's development of the theory of gravity for instance) and the state of the art in quite a number of technologies. For instance lens making was in the early days an offshoot of manufacturing eye glasses. One of the first things to be actually manufactured that could be called high tech. Today the mirrors of large telescopes are made by putting molten glass in a bowl (if you will) that can be spun around a vertical axis so that the centrifugal force causes the glass to flow outwards to rise along the edges of the bowl and form the curve wanted. The glass used in these large lenses is not old reclaimed Coke bottles. It is precisely defined and manufactured by only three or four companies in the world. It is also not cheap. Any imperfections in the rotation of the 'bowl' will cause ripples in the surface so the bearings are as perfect as it is possible to make them and the drive motors designed for absolutely perfect speeds. All of these technologies must come together to make a modern instrument. Like it has for four centuries, these technologies have driven the state of the art every higher, and there is no end in sight. This book details the history of the telescope, and in doing so, describes the state of the art in a lot of manufacturing fields. Highly recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author, an astronomer and world class expert in his subject matter, is also a very witty, occasionally humorous and most engaging writer. The historical presentation and mini-biographical snippets are very well written and most informative. As a welcome bonus, the author has included some technical details on the optics and designs of telescopes of all types; the many optical diagrams nicely complement the physical descriptions given in the text. Of course, these physical descriptions encouraged me to dig up my old optics textbooks to verify some of the technical arguments for myself. A glossary, notes and a list of references round out this excellent book. This is a valuable addition to the library of any science buff and is indispensable to anyone remotely interested in astronomy and its fascinating tools.

An optical telescope is basically a mirror for catching light. Once this principle is understood, it follows that the bigger the mirror, the more we can see, at greater distances with greater accuracy. The only limitation is the human eye. But the history of the telescope is not merely a history of perfecting bigger, better mirrors. It is a surprisingly human, grounded saga of men struggling not only with technology but also with each other --- philosophically, politically, and financially. Before the invention of the telescope, the universe had to be invented. It was once believed that the night sky, so beloved of astronomers and courting couples, was simply a flat backdrop for a nightly drama played out by the stars. Space was a curtain. It took a genius or two to map out the earth's place among the stars, and a number of lesser known but no less brilliant men to figure out how to see what was out there. The most recognized name in early astronomy is Galileo, who was not the instrument's inventor. Fred Watson --- astronomer, writer, and author of STARGAZER --- informs us that no one person can claim that honor. Galileo was among the very first to construct, use and refine the telescope and got the pleasure of naming all sorts of things (he cleverly named the moons of Jupiter for the Medici family, hoping to gain ducal favor thereby). Subsequent inventions have been improvements on the basic telescope, adding more lenses and bigger tubes, up to the modern era when we non-astronomers assume that things in the Hubble era have gone about as far as they can go. There is a limit to the number of good sighting places on earth --- the requirements are height and low population density along with near perfect weather conditions. And there is a theoretical limit to how big a lens can be, though Watson recounts a project called OWL (Overwhelmingly Large). "OWL was to be a telescope of no less than 100 metres aperture with a mirror made up of hexagonal segments measuring 2.3 metres across --- a staggering 1600 of them...most of the Universe --- literally --- would fall within its grasp." But OWL is still on the drawing boards, with some scientists considering it a "ULT --- Uselessly Large Telescope." Watson's book never burdens the reader with too much technical mass, and keeps the human angle always in focus. Most of the book consists of dramatic, often humorous stories of various attempts to make the heavens come to earth through the lens of the telescope. The author's ability to put us ordinary earthbound folk in the big picture is a significant contribution to the subject. --- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott, an author (WITH IT - Behler Publications, 2004) and professional book reviewer whose work regularly appears in www.curledup.com, www.bookreporter.com, www.awomanswrite.com, and three North Carolina daily newspapers.

STARGAZER, the life and times of the TELESCOPE is not a technical book about how to build a telescope. Instead, Fred Watson gives us a history about people building telescopes. He talks about why the science went the direction it did, and what motivated those early craftsmen to make the choices they did. It's easy, entertaining reading, but when you get done, you'll understand the difference between a 'refractor' and a 'reflector', which parts are glass, and which parts are mirrors, and why the telescope is put together the way it is.