CUDDE: A CENTURY OF ASTRONOMY AND GEODESY IN CALIFORNIA 73 



observed from three stations, Mount Whitney, 14,496 feet, Mountain Camp, 

 11,600 feet, and Lone Pine, 3,727 feet high. The success of Langley's party led 

 to a number of other observations on Mount Whitney, especially after the Smith- 

 sonian Institution had erected a suitable building on the summit, the lack of 

 which had been felt by the Langley party. 



It was in 1902 that the Carnegie Institution of Washington was founded. In 

 1904 steps were taken by the Institution and by Dr. George E. Hale (who nego- 

 tiated the first lease) preliminary to the actual establishment of an observatory 

 on Mount Wilson. In 1905 the Carnegie Institution made the first grant for the 

 building and maintenance of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. The usual 

 controversy among astronomers had arisen about the desirability of altitude for 

 astronomical observation. A committee of leading astronomers arrived apparently 

 at a compromise, suggesting Mount Wilson, which had already been occupied by 

 a Harvard University party from 1889 to 1891. At the same time the committee 

 recommended a 60-inch reflector telescope as most suitable. Hale, the chief 

 advocate of the reflector telescope, was appointed director. With that a new 

 phase in the history of astronomy was ushered in, and California was again 

 in the lead. 



In 1898, James E. Keeler, Director of the Lick Observatory, had already 

 shown the superiority of the reflector for discovering nebulae and star clusters 

 by means of photography. With the comparatively small auxiliary reflector at 

 Lick Observatory hundreds of new nebulae were discovered in a small section 

 of the sky, which led to the conclusion that hundreds of thousands of nebulae 

 existed and awaited discovery. 



This method of observation was now employed at Mount Wilson on a larger 

 scale and with more powerful telescopes : first a 60-inch, and then, since 1918, a 

 100-ineh reflector. It is, of course, here impossible even to summarize the spec- 

 tacular results obtained on Mount Wilson in solar research, stellar distances and 

 velocities, spectroscopy, compositions of star clusters and nebulae, and so forth. 

 New was Hale's idea of considering an observatory as a huge physical laboratory 

 of which the telescope forms only one part — the most essential, to be sure. 



Even before the installation of the 100-inch reflector Hale had visions of a 

 more powerful telescope and with his energy and perseverance he w^ent about to 

 make his dream come true. After the usual trials and tribulations the trustees 

 of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1928 voted the sum of $6,000,000 for the erec- 

 tion of a 200-inch reflector. The marvelous results on Mount Wilson had shown 

 that the peaks of the Southern California mountain ranges offered the best atmos- 

 pheric conditions for astronomical observation in the United States. Palomar 

 Mountain, in San Diego County, 6,126 feet above sea level, was selected as the 

 site for the new telescope, which was to penetrate more deeply into space. 



Palomar, "place of the pigeons," is a remarkable orographic feature for 

 which even the Indians had a name, "Paauw." American surveyors named it 

 Palomar after a Mexican land grant, but generally it was known as Smith Moun- 

 tain until the Board on Geographic Names restored the beautiful old Spanish 

 name in 1901. 



Hale died ten years before the completion of the great work of which he had 

 been the chief mover. When the observatory was dedicated in 1948, the immense 

 instrument was named Hale Telescope in his memory. The Palomar Observatory 



