State: California, Southwest USA, USA, World

Spotlight: George Ellery Hale — Mt Wilson Observatory, Los Angeles Co, CA

George Ellery Hale (right, with Andrew Carnegie) devoted his
life to promoting and financing many of the great observatories
of the 20th century. He was the driving force behind the
creation of theYerkes Observatory and its 40-inch refractor.
He founded the Mount Wilson Observatory and persuaded
the Carnegie Institution to fund its 60-inch reflector. He
convinced John D. Hooker and the Carnegie Institution to
build the even larger 100-inch telescope on Mount Wilson.

Hale's crowning achievement was convincing the Rockefeller
Foundation to fund the building of the Palomar Observatory
and its 200-inch telescope. Hale did not live to see the
telescope's completion, but the instrument was named for him
to honor his extraordinary legacy to astronomy.

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