Warner

Deborah Jean Warner; Robert B AriailBiblio.com

Alvan Clark & Sons: Artists in Optics

1995rif. 10648Willmann-Bell & National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution 1995. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine. Hardcover second edition v 298 pages copiously illustrated with b&w images NOT ex-library. Minor handling wear. Book is clean and bright with unmarked text free of inscriptions and stamps firmly bound. Issued without a dust jacket. -- The book traces the fascinating history of the Clark family renowned for their work in optical design and manufacturing in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The authors provide an insightful account of how the Clarks revolutionised telescope making producing some of the most important astronomical lenses of their time. The book highlights the family's craftsmanship scientific expertise and artistic dedication to optics which earned them international recognition. Through meticulous research the authors recount the Clark family's contributions to astronomy detailing their partnerships with leading observatories and the construction of large refracting telescopes. The text also explores the technical and artistic aspects of the Clarks' work offering a unique perspective on how they balanced scientific precision with aesthetic beauty. This book is an invaluable resource for historians of science astronomy enthusiasts and anyone interested in the intersection of art and technology. -- "Alvan Clark & Sons was an American maker of optics that became famous for crafting lenses for some of the largest refracting telescopes of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1846 in Cambridgeport Massachusetts by Alvan Clark 1804-1887 a descendant of Cape Cod whalers who started as a portrait painter and his sons George Bassett Clark 1827-1891 and Alvan Graham Clark 1832-1897. Five times the firm built the largest refracting telescopes Great refractors in the world. The Clark firm gained "worldwide fame and distribution" wrote one author on astronomy in 1899. The 18.5-inch 470 mm Dearborn telescope housed successively at the University of Chicago Northwestern University and Adler Planetarium was commissioned in 1856 by the University of Mississippi. The outbreak of civil war prevented them from ever taking ownership. As a result it was being tested in Cambridgeport when Alvan Graham observed Sirius B in 1862. In 1873 they built the 26-inch 660 mm objective lens for the refractor at the United States Naval Observatory. In 1883 they build the 30-inch 760 mm telescope for the Pulkovo Observatory in Russia the 36-inch 910 mm objective for the refractor at Lick Observatory was made in 1887 and the 40-inch 1000 mm lens for the Yerkes Observatory refractor in 1897 only ever exceeded in size by the lens made for Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900. The company also built a number of smaller instruments which are still highly prized among collectors and amateur astronomers. The company's assets were acquired by the Sprague-Hathaway Manufacturing Company in 1933 but continued to operate under the Clark name. In 1936 Sprague-Hathaway moved the Clark shop to a new location in West Somerville Massachusetts where manufacturing continued in association with the Perkin-Elmer Corporation another maker of precision instruments. Most of Clark's equipment was disposed of as scrap during World War II." Willmann-Bell & National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution hardcover

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