Denver, CO – Chamberlin Observatory
Rocky Mountain High Date: September 26-29, 2003Location: Denver, CO, USA Highlights: On September 26 through 29, 2003, the Antique Telescope Society held its 12th annual convention at the historic Chamberlin Observatory, Denver University in Denver, CO. The program...
2002 Dublin, Ireland – Lord Rosse’s Observatory at Birr Castle
The Leviathan of Parsonstown Date: September 20-25, 2002Location: Dublin, Ireland Highlights: On September 20 through 25, 2002, the Antique Telescope Society held its 11th annual convention in Dublin, Ireland. The program included talks and exhibits, and a banquet,...
2001 Pittsburgh, PA – Allegheny Observatory, John Brashear, etc.
From Steel Mills to the Stars Date: September 14-17, 2001 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Highlights: On September 14-17, we gathered in Pittsburgh, PA for the Tenth Annual Antique Telescope Society Convention. It was a wonderful program including visits to Allegheny...
Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800)
Jesse Ramsden, the son of a Yorkshire innkeeper, was born October 6, 1735. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed, first to a cloth worker and later to a scientific instrument maker in London. By the time he finished his apprenticeship he was highly skilled in engraving...
Plössl, Georg Simon (1794-1868)
Georg Simon Plössl was born September 19th, 1794 in Wieden near Vienna. He was the son of a carpenter and learned to turn wood during an apprenticeship from September 28th 1807 to 1811. On May, 9th 1812 he started to work with the Voigtlaender optical firm in...
Schmidt, Bernhard (1879-1935)
Bernhard Schmidt was born on March, 30th 1879 as the first of 5 children to Karl Konstantin and his wife, Maria Helene. K.K. Schmidt was a writer on the island of Naissaar, which is off the coast of Tallinn, Estonia, in the Baltic Sea. He was also a farmer and...
The Adams Family of Instrument Makers
Reference: John R. Millburn, Adams of Fleet Street, Instrument Makers to King George III. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2000. George Adams, senior and his two sons, George, junior and Dudley, were prominent instrument makers in London for over 80 years. All...
John Dollond (1706-1761)
John Dollond, the son of immigrant Huguenots from France, was born on June 10, 1706 in London. He took up the weaving profession of his father, but at the age of 46 joined his son Peter in the optical business. Although he had been obliged to leave school early to...
2022 Virtual Convention Call for Papers
The 2022 Antique Telescope Society Virtual Convention Call for Papers The 2022 Convention of the Antique Telescope Society will be held online on the weekends of November 12-13 and 19-20, using the Zoom platform once again. We had excellent participation at the last...
A Tour of Optical History at the Astronomical Lyceum
A Tour of Optical History at the Astronomical Lyceum An online presentation hosted by Skyscrapers, Inc. on Zoom Presented by John Briggs Our forefathers in optics allowed a revolutionary ascendancy of American astronomy in the 19th and early 20th...