page_title: Nicholas Mayall
section_title: 120-inch (3.0 m) telescope
hierarchical_section_title: Nicholas Mayall / 120-inch (3.0 m) telescope
caption_attribution_description: The 120 inch reflector telescope at the Lick Observatory in California. The dome is open during day time for maintenance.
context_page_description: Nicholas Ulrich Mayall was an American observational astronomer. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, Mayall worked at the Lick Observatory, where he remained from 1934 to 1960, except for a brief period at MIT's Radiation Laboratory during World War II.
  During his time at Lick, Mayall contributed to astronomical knowledge of nebulae, supernovae, spiral galaxy internal motions, the redshifts of galaxies, and the origin, age, and size of the Universe. He played a significant role in the planning and construction of Lick's 120-inch reflector, which represented a major improvement over its earlier 36-inch telescope.
  From 1960, Mayall spent 11 years as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory until his retirement in 1971. Under his leadership KPNO, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, developed into two of the world's top research observatories, equipped with premier telescopes. Mayall was responsible for the construction of the 4-meter Kitt Peak reflector, which was named after him. When Mayall died in 1993, his ashes were spread high on an empty ridge of Kitt Peak.
context_section_description: During World War II Mayall became an important influence on Lick Observatory's future.  Ever since 1931, when he had returned to Lick and Berkeley after serving two years as an assistant at Mount Wilson, he had felt strongly that Mount Hamilton required a larger telescope.  The astronomers at Lick were proud of their ability to achieve important results with Lick's small 36-inch (0.91 m) Crossley reflector.  Its diminutive size first became apparent in 1908, when Mount Wilson's 60-inch (1.5 m) telescope saw first light. This was accentuated by the opening of the 72-inch (1.8 m) Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in 1917, and Mount Wilson's even larger 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope in 1919.  Mayall was adept at working with the small Crossley, but understood that it could never really stand up to a competing telescope that collected nine times the amount of light.  This was only going to get worse when the 200-inch (5.1 m) Hale Telescope was completed at Palomar Observatory.  Mayall and other young faculty at Lick thought that the older faculty such as Moore and Wright were too committed to the small telescopes and should have tried harder to obtain a larger reflector.
  Unknown to Mayall, Lick observatory director William H. Wright and his predecessor, Robert G. Aitken, had both tried in secret to raise money for a larger reflector to replace the 36-inch (0.91 m) Crossley Reflector.  They tried both private sources as well as trying to get Robert Gordon Sproul, the University of California President, to provide for one in the budget.  Despite multiple attempts, they continued to fail, primarily due to the Great Depression.  However, in 1942, Sproul asked Paul W. Merrill from Mt. Wilson to succeed Wright, but was turned down.  Agitated by the refusal, Sproul changed his stance and told the regents that they had to find a way to raise money for a new telescope once the war ended.  At about this time, Sproul promised or secretly appointed C. Donald Shane as director of Lick, to take over when the war ended.
  The plan for a large telescope was leaked around September 1944 in the form of the University's budget proposals.  Wright and Joseph H. Moore, interim wartime Lick director, imagined an 85-inch (2.2 m) or 90-inch (2.3 m) reflector based upon the funds proposed in the budget by Sproul.  Mayall and Gerald E. Kron sent a letter to Sproul representing the younger Lick staff members, in which they requested a meeting to discuss the kind of telescope to be built.  They met with Sproul in December 1944 in Sproul's Los Angeles office.  Mayall spoke of the key need for a telescope exceeding 90 inches (2.3 m).  At the Caltech optical shop in Pasadena he had seen the nearly completed 120-inch (3.0 m) Pyrex glass disc that was initially planned to be used as a flat in the auto-collimation test of the 200-inch (5.1 m) Palomar mirror and urged Sproul to have the Lick telescope use a mirror of that size.  Much to their surprise, Sproul agreed.
  Shane was appointed chairman of a committee formed by Sproul in the beginning of 1945, to plan the new reflector.  Other committee members included Mayall, Moore, Walter S. Adams and Ira S. Bowen.  The committee functioned primarily through correspondence.  Mayall's first letter helped to convince Shane that 120 inches (3.0 m) was feasible instead of just 90-inch (2.3 m). Mayall helped to bridge the gap between the experienced team of telescope designers in Pasadena and Shane, who was more experienced as a university administrator and professor. Adams and the executive officer of the 200-inch (5.1 m) project, John August Anderson, shared their experience, drawings and plans with the Lick design committee.  On March 6, 1945, with both Mayall and Shane present, the committee decided upon the basic parameters of what would become the 120-inch (3.0 m) C. Donald Shane telescope.  On March 7, Mayall joined Shane, Wright and Moore (not present at the March 6 meeting), at Mt. Hamilton to choose the location upon which to build the reflector.
caption: The 120-inch (3.0 m) Lick telescope, with the dome open for maintenance
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