Page 9 of 21
| "On reaching New York, I called at Mr.
Rutherfords [sic] to see about your grating. He is away, but Chapman
told me that he [Chapman] had sent you one, two weeks ago which I
suppose you have now got. I seized two large ones I found there and
bore them off, that being the only way of getting them, as he had
apparently promised so many people that he has no longer any exact
idea of the order of priority of claimants for the few he makes."
Samuel P. Langley to a British Astronomer in 1879. L.M. Rutherford, to whom Langley refers, gave up practicing law to devote his time to constructing photographic instruments. Rutherford was one of the only sources of ruled gratings which were used to refract light more precisely than prisms. While the mathematical astronomer spent long hours at his or her telescope, the astrophysicist worked in a laboratory full of instruments and apparati as well as the telescope. |
|
 |
This image represents an eclipse expedition in 1871. The telescope in the foreground is fitted with a spectroscope. The figure in the lower right is the official timekeeper, and he calls out the time throughout the observation to guide the team of observers through pre-planned programs. |
