This volume gives an historical overview of the development of professional optical and radio observatories from 1945 to today. It covers the environment in which these facilities were developed by organisations in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, often led by larger-than-life individuals, as well as exploring the financial and political factors that both constrained and encouraged progress. As ever more expensive optical facilities were built, they exploited new technologies to significantly improve their performance: CCDs, active and adaptive optics, and spun honeycomb and segmented mirrors. The second half of this volume turns to the parallel history of radio astronomy facilities throughout the world, finishing with the ALMA observatory in Chile. This is the ground-based companion to the author's previous work on space astronomy, New Cosmic Horizons (2001). It is written for both technical and non-technical readers interested in the modern history of astronomy and its observational facilities.

Preface page xi

Part 1 Optical Observatories

1 Palomar Mountain Observatory 3

      1.1 The 200 inch (5.1 m) HaleTelescope 3

      1.2 Palomar Schmidt Telescope 11

2 The United States Optical Observatory 16

      2.1 Introduction 16

      2.2 Founding of Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) 17

      2.3 The National Observatory Telescopes on Kill Peak 20

      The 84 inch (2.1 1m) Telescope 20

      McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope 21

      Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope 23

      Mayall 158 inch (4.0 m) Telescope 23

      Remote Control Telescope 25

      Restructuring 26

      2.4 Other Telescopes on Kitt Peak 27

      Steward Observatory's 36 inch (0.9 m) and the Spacewatch Project 27

      Steward Observatory's 90 inch (2.3 111) Bok Telescope 27

      University of Michigan's 52 inch (J.3 m) and the McGraw-Hill Observatory 29

      Move of the Burrell Schmidt 30

      Hilmer 2.4m Telescope 30

      2.5 National Observatory Funding Problems 31

      WYN 3.5 m Telescope 32

      SARA 0.9 m Telescope 33

      Tum of rile Century and Beyond 33

      2.6 Cerro Tololo and its National Observatory Telescopes 35

      Blanco 158 inch (4.0m) Telescope 39

      2.7 Other Telescopes on Cerro Tololo 41

3 From the Next Generation Telescope to Gemini and SOAR 47

      3.1 Next Generation Telescope (NGT) 47

      3.2 National New Technology Telescope (NNTT) 48

      3.3 Gemini 52

      3.4 SOAR 63

4 Competing Primary Mirror Designs 67

      4.1 Spun Honeycomb Mirrors 67

      4.2 Segmented Mirrors 71

      Keck Telescopes 72

      Hobby -Eberly Telescope 82

      SALT 84

      LAMOST 86

      4.3 Thin Meniscus Mirrors 87

      4.4 Metal Mirrors 89

      4.5 Liquid Mirror Telescopes 90

5 Active Optics, Adaptive Optics and Other Technical Innovations 96

      5.1 Active Optics 96

      5.2 Adaptive Optics 100

      Curvature Sensor and Bimorph Systems 102

      Altitude-Conjugate Systems 102

      Laser Guide Star Systems 103

      Multi -Conjugate Systems 105

      Adaptive Secondary Mirrors 106

      5.3 The Change 10 Altazimth Mounts 107

      5.4 Charge-Coupled Devices 109

6 European Northern Observatory and Calar Alto 114

      6.1 European Northern Observatory, Canary Islands 114

      Night -time Telescopes on Tenerife 114

      Night -time Telescopes on La Palma 118

      Solar Telescopes 125

      6.2 Calar Alto 128

7 European Southern Observatory 131

      7.1 La Silla 131

      European Southern Observatory's Early Telescopes 131

      Notional Telescopes on la Silla 140

      ESO 's New Technology Telescope 144

      la Silla Today 145

      7.2 Cerro Paranal 146

      The VLT 146

      VISTA 162

      VLT Sruvey Telescope (VST) 164

      7.3 OWL and the E-ELT 166

8 Mauna Kea Observatory 175

      8.1 Introduction 175

      8.2 Canada-France-Hawaii(CFH) Telescope 178

      8.3 NASA lnfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) 179

      8.4 United Kingdom lnfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) 180

      8.5 Subaru 181

      8.6 The Kecks and Gemini North 183

      8.7 Environmental and Other Concerns 184

9 Australan Optical Observatories 189

      9.1 Mount Stromlo, the Early Years 189

      9.2 Siding Spring 191

      Anglo ·Australian Observatory 193

      Advanced Technology Telescope 201

      9.3 Bushfires on Mount Stromlo 202

      9.4 Optical Interferometers 204

10 Mount Hopkins' \Whipple Observatory and the MMT 207

11 Apache Point Observatory 216

      11.1 ARC 3.5m Telescope 216

      11.2 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 220

      11.3 ARC 0.5 m Photometric Telescope 227

      11.4 NMSU One-Meter Telescope 227

12 Carnegie Southern Observatory (Las Campanas) 229

      12.1 lrenee du Pont Telescope 231

      12.2 Giant Magellan Telescope 232

13 Mount Graham International Optical Observatory 238

      13.1 Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) 238

      13.2 Columbus Project or Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) 239

14 Modem Optical Interferometers 244

      14.1 Mount Wilson 244

      Berkeley lnfrared Spatial Interferometer (/SI) 244

      Center/or High Angular Resolution Astronimy (CHARA) 245

      14.2 lnterf 6 rometre :\ 2 T 61 escopes (12 T ) 246

      14.3 Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST) 247

      14.4 Infrared /Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) 248

      14.5 Palomar Testbed Interferometer 249

      14.6 Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer 250

15 Solar Observatories 254

      15.1 Climax Observatory and the Sacmmento Peak Solar Observatory 254

      15.2 Big Bear Solar Observatory 257

      15.3 The GONG Helioseismology Network 259

Part 2 Radio Obscrvacorics

16 Austra lian Radio Observatories 263

      16.1 Early Australian Radio Astronomy 263

      Solar Observations 263

      Non-Solar Observntions 265

      Other Radiophysics Laboratory Observatory Stations of the Late 1940s 266

      Polls Hill 268

      Badgery's Creek 271

      Fleurs 272

      Hole-in-the-ground Antenna, Dover Heights 274

      16.2 Parkes Radio Telescope 276

      16.3 Culgoora and the Molonglo Cross 285

      16.4 The Australia Telescope 288

      16.5 The Australian Square Kilometre Array Patl1finder and Murchison Widefield An-ay 292

17 Cambridge Mullard Radio Observatory 295

      17.1 The Early Years 295

      17.2 Aperture Synthesis 298

      17.3 Modem Instruments 300

18 Jodrell Bank 304

      18.1 From Radar to Radio Astronomy 304

      18.2 The 250 ft Mark I 306

      18.3 Later Parabolic Radio Telescopes 315

      18.4 Modifications to the Mark I 319

      18.5 MERLIN 321

19 Early Radio Observatories Away from the Australian-British Axis 326

      19.1 The Soviet Union 326

      Lebedev Physical Institute's(LPI'S) Radio Observatory in the Crimea 327

      Gorki State University's Radio Observatory 328

      LPI's Radio Observatory at Pushchino 329

      Pulkovo 331

      RATAN-600 331

      VLBI 332

      19.2 France 332

      Nanray 334

      19.3 The Netherlands 338

20 The American National Radio Astronomy Observatory 348

      20.1 AUI Feasibility Study and Early Programme of the 140 ft Telescope 349

      20.2 Role of the NSF in Funding Large Facilities 354

      20.3 Choice of AUI to Manage the National Radio Astronomy Observatory 354

      20.4 The First Rad .io Telescopes at Green Bank 356

      20.5 Green Bank Interferometer 358

      20.6 The 300 ft and its Replacement 360

      20.7 The 140 ft Telescope 365

      20.8 Millimeter -Wave Telescope 369

      20.9 Very LargeArray 373

      20.10 Very Long Baseline Array 379

21 Owens Valley and Mauna Kea 385

      21.1 Owens Valley Radio Observatory 385

      Millimetre Arrays 390

      21.2 Submillimetre RadioTelescopes on Mauna Kea 391

      James Clerk Maxwell Telescope 391

      Caltech Submillimeter Observatory 392

      Smithsonian Submillimeter Array 395

22 Further North and Central American Observatories 400

      22.1 US Naval Research Laboratory 400

      22.2 MIT Lincoln Labortory, Millstone Hill and Haystack 403

      22.3 Harvard Radio Astronomy Station, Fort Davis, Texas 408

      22.4 Vermilion River Observatory 410

      22.5 Ohio Transit Radio Telescope 413

      22.6 Arecibo Radio Telescope 415

      22.7 Algonquin Radio Observatory 423

      22.8 Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory 425

      22.9 Hat Creek 427

      Allen Telescope Array 428

      22.10 Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Mexican-American Large Millimeter Telescope 430

23 Further European and Asian Radio Observatories 438

      23.1 Stockert Observatory and the Effelsberg Radio Telescope 438

      23.2 Chalmers Onsala Space Observatory and the Swedish-ESQ Submillimetre Telescope (SEST)444

      23.3 IRAM 447

      23.4 Indian RadioTelescopes 452

      23.5 Nobeyama Observatory 456

      Solar Telescopes 456

      Millimetre-Wave Telescopes 457

      23.6 Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope 459

24 ALM A and the South Pole 462

      24.1 ALMA 462

      24.2 South Pole 468

Name Index 473

Optical/lnfrared Observatory and Telescope Index 478

Radio Observatory and Telescope Index 482

General Index 485

David Leverington received his degree in Physics from the University of Oxford in 1963. Since then he has held a number of senior positions in the space industry, working for both the European Space Agency and British Aerospace before taking early retirement in 1992. Subsequently he has written four books: A History of Astronomy from 1890 to the Present (1996), New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope (Cambridge, 2001), Babylon to Voyager and Beyond: A History of Planetary Astronomy (Cambridge, 2003) and the Encyclopedia of the History of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Cambridge, 2013). He was also technical consultant for ABC-CLIO's Space Exploration and Humanity: A Historical Encyclopedia (2010), supported by the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society.

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