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Smithsonian Videohistory Program.
Multiple-mirror telescope videohistory collection [videorecording], 1989.
Since 1979, completely new and radical designs for astronomical telescopes have emerged. The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) was the prototype, both technically and institutionally, for the next generation of large telescopes. The MMT was the world's first large-scale multiple mirror telescope, which used the combined light of six 72-inch reflecting telescopes in a single altitude-azimuth mount. Computers controlled all pointing and tracking of the MMT's individual telescopes. The MMT was located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. Development of this site was begun by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in the late 1960s as the Mt. Hopkins Observatory, renamed the Whipple Observatory in 1981. The MMT was jointly developed and run by SAO and the University of Arizona (UA). This arrangement was the first of several university and observatory consortia that have attempted larger multiple mirror and segmented mirror designs. David DeVorkin, curator at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), recorded six sessions with twelve participants to document this multi-institutional scientific program. The participants were Nathaniel Carleton, Frederic H. Chaffee, Craig Foltz, Carol Heller, Keith Hege, Thomas Hoffman, Aden Meinel, Michael Reed, Robert Shannon, Ray Weymann, Joseph T. Williams and Fred L. Whipple. DeVorkin was particularly interested in design and construction of the MMT; in its operation (with basic structural and optical design elements); in how astronomers use the telescope; and in the phenomena of "consortia". DeVorkin also visually documented the operation of the MMT, including a nighttime observing session, various artifacts and equipment, and the interaction of former colleagues during group discussions. Interviews took place between May 8 and 11, 1989, at the observatory, in a studio in Tucson, Arizona, and at Flandrau Planetarium of the University of Arizona.
Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory
Telescopes -- Design and construction.
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat aat
Transcripts. aat aat
Multiple mirror telescopes.
Chaffee, Frederic H., 1941-
DeVorkin, David H., 1944- interviewer.
Foltz, Craig Billig.
Meinel, Aden B.
Whipple, Fred L. (Fred Lawrence), 1906-2004
Weymann, R. J. (Ray J.)
Carleton, Nathaniel, 1929-
Heller, Carol.
Hege, Keith.
Hoffman, Thomas.
Reed, Michael.
Williams, Joseph T.
Shannon, Robert Rennie, 1932-
AIP-ICOS
Smithsonian Institution. Archives. Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507, 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024-2520, USA
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