Perdrix Address: The Great Melbourne Telescope: Why Did They Do That?

Presenter(s): Barry Adcock

Session details: Sunday, 2014-04-20 01:00:00, New York

Abstract

A summary of the life and work of John Perdrix will be presented. John Perdrix also had a deep interest in the Great Melbourne Telescope (GMT). In view of the pending excursion to see the GMT and to emphasize the interest that John developed in the instrument, a discussion of the optical configuration of the GMT and the reasons behind some of the decisions made at the time of design will be put forward. At the time of the construction of the GMT well known testing techniques were not used but Thomas Grubb developed some innovative optical testing techniques. The telescope had a very long focal length and huge eyepieces were manufactured to obtain a reasonable magnification. The eyepieces, the secondary mirrors and other ancillary optical components will be discussed.

Biography

An Electrical Engineer by profession, I made my first telescope at the age of 13 and developed an interest in tilted component telescopes and refractor design and construction. I had a major input in the construction of the ASV’s 20″ LeMarquand telescope and the 400 mm BAS Federation telescope, and have made many observations, visual and photographic of the solar system objects and was the director of the Lunar and Planetary Section of the ASV for 40 years. I have been president of the ASV and a member of the ASV council since 1968.