Telescope Designer and Astronomer John Dobson, 1915-2014 57
As noted by Sky & Telescope, SpaceWatchtower, and many other sources, astronomer and telescope innovator John Dobson died yesterday in Burbank, California, at the age of 98. He's famous as an inspiration for others to explore astronomy, in part through the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers, which he co-founded in 1967, and as designer of the telescope variety which bears his name.
Gave true meaning to expanding the mind (Score:5, Insightful)
John's simple but effective methods for building large aperture telescopes opened the sky to a whole new audience.
Re:While my Meade Lightbridge gently weeps... (Score:4, Insightful)
And what's interesting is that the design then morphed into the high-end, large commercial dobs that you can buy today. They aren't cheap, but the performance is great and they are very portable. Combining the dobsonian mount with a truss-tube allows me to load my 15" Obsession into the back seat of my car. I've seen a 20" go into a small hatchback. Dealing with the poles was a little tricky, but the bulk of the equipment went right in.
And don't think of this as being "low-tech". The design is simple and the materials cheap but the combination of a large bearing surface, formica and teflon, and perfect balance in the scope results in amazing performance. Move the scope and it just slides around the sky. Take your hand off and it stops right where you want it. I love doing that rather than fiddling around with motors and gears and buttons on a hand controller.
I know the expensive commercial dobs weren't quite what he had in mind, but the mount innovation changed amateur astronomy, for the way better. Thank you Mr. Dobson.