
3 6 c m
40cm
actual image size: 32cm x 28cm
Description
Photograph of the domes and buildings of the Yerkes Observatory at Williams Bay, Wisconsin in the United States. Its primary instrument is a 40 inch refracting telescope built by the American company of Warner & Swasey Ltd with optics by Alvan Clark & Sons that was completed in 1897. Established as part of the University of Chicago, the observatory was the brainchild of its first director, George Ellery Hale (1868-1938). He managed to convince Charles Tyson Yerkes (1837-1905), a Chicago railway tycoon, to fund the whole project. Today it is still the largest refracting telescope in the world.
Image Details
Image Ref.
10415906
© Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library