Telescope, Schmidt Camera
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telescope, Schmidt type, made by Charles A. & Harold A. Lower.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Schmidt comera was invented by Bernard Schmidt in Germany in 1930. It is an ingenious mirror/lens combination which gives a coma-free image, free of astigmatism. Unfortunately, the image produced is on a concave surface, which makes the Schmidt unsuitable for visual astronomy. The image is recorded on a photographic plate, which must be bent to the curve of the focal surface and placed at the focus in a special film cassette.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Charles Lower and his son Harold were unemployed amateur astronomers and telescope makers in San Diego, who had built several reflectors. In 1932, D.O. Hendrix, an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory, having read Schmidt's 1931 paper, began to build a Schmidt camera. He gave a lecture on the Schmidt principle to the Riverside Astronomical Society. That lecture inspired the Lowers to build this instrument, but did not provide all the necessary details. Harold Lower wrote to Ingalls that 'Dad and I were present at that meeting. I listened carefully, but did not hear any explanation of methods of figuring or testing. In fact, the only thing I got was that such an instrument existed, and it employed a spherical mirror and a correcting lens.' Note: This is said by donor to be the first Schmidt telescope constructed in the United States, the Lowers having begun work on reading Schmidt's article. [However, this claim is probably not correct. Cat. # 334,722, Schmidt photographic telescope, made by Dr. H. Page Bailey of Riverside California was made in 1932. The Lowers knew Bailey, and met with him on several occassions. see cat. #334,722 object file] It is certainly one of the first Schmidt telescopes made in this country. It was completed January, 1936. This telescope has a 20-degree field of view. Harold Lower wrote to Ingalls: 'So far as I know, our Schmidt is the first f/1 Schmidt. I believe it is also the largest f/1 in the world. It covers a wider field than any other Schmidt which I have heard of so far. Our methods of testing were new and original.' (Note: Although this mirror is 12' diameter, with a focal length of 8 inches, it does not have a focal length of f/.66 because the aperture of the instrument is 8')
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reference: Sky and Telescope, Nov. 1947, p. 11. Also see photos in Object File, Div. of Physical Sciences.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 'Notes on the Construction of an F/1 Schmidt Camera', by Harold A. Lower, Amateur Telescope Making - Advanced, p. 410-416.
label: Description (Brief)
content: 'The Newer Telescopes', Scientific American, June, 1935, p. 294-5; and 'Photograph of Finsler's Comet Taken with an 8-inch F/1 Schmidt Camera ', by Harold Lower, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, (49), 1937, p. 274-6.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.325909
label: catalog number
content: 325909
label: accession number
content: 255604
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Telescope, Schmidt Camera
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 51 in x 36 in x 46 in; 129.54 cm x 91.44 cm x 116.84 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 70 in x 48 in x 36 in; 177.8 cm x 121.92 cm x 91.44 cm