Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lick Observatory 20170304 : vimarsana

In the 1860s and he wanted to be remembered. Georgia davidson, the president of the California Academy of james, and a strong number, showed him what satellite look like through a telescope and they were the factors that convinced him that a scientific monument was the right way to go. He decided he wanted he the greatest telescope superior to any in existence constructed as his memorial and he gave about 700,000 of his fortune to form the Lick Observatory. This telescope is his monument. The construction of this observatory actually took quite a long time and started in the 1870s. Mount hamilton was an unoccupied mountain, there was no road to santap, so they convinced clara county to build a firstclass road to the top of Mount Hamilton and that started in 1876. By 1888, the Road Construction was done and they could finally actually Start Building this building and by 1886, they finally knew how big the telescope would be. The lenses were done being made and ground to the final figure so they could start constructing this dome. Is a large diameter, i do not know exactly how large it is, but approximately 800 feet in diameter and it houses the 60 feet long telescope and you will notice the telescope is high up and you cannot reach the eyepiece easily. They worked around this problem because the floor i am standing on was a huge elevator and this floor would go up to the telescope so the astronomer could ride the floor up to placeer the whatever the telescope was and easily look through the eyepiece or take the photographic plate data they were taking back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Astronomy in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Lick Observatory was constructed, was really going through a heyday of discovery. This telescope was the largest of its kind in the world in 1888 and with it, they were able to make some great, early discoveries in the first few years of this observatory. Just the first night of science observations with this telescope in january of 1888, james keeler looked at saturn and he actually discovered a new gas in the rings of saturn that is now got that is now called the anky division. Edward edwards and that another man discovered the fifth moon of jupiter. That was a huge discovery. People didnt know there were more moons and it was the last moon discovered in our solar system using visual techniques, just looking with a human eyeball. All subsequent moons have been does covered discovered photographically. Plates Lick Observatorys vault or photographic plate archived. The observatory was very influential in the days of photography and we have of the order of 150,000 photographic plate plates. Today we do not use photographic plates. We use digital cameras and lake observatorylick moved to new photographic research. Photographic full plate so you can see what they look like. Lick observatory was very prominent in moon observations. We have many plates of the moon from the early or late 1800s and early 1900. From 1908. Late this is a negative image so that you can actually see the moon looks dark and the sky looks white when it is printed out. And the sky looks white. These are some of the finest images of the moon in existence and they are routinely used in textbooks even today when you are learning about the moon. Lick observatory was not only doing research on the moon back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but we had a key part to play in the apollo 11 mission. Buzz aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon on their first trip what is called the lunar retro reflector and this is a little prisms of light that if light came in, it would be sent along the same path. We use the largest telescope, to shoot ainch laser at the moon and send the laser light back at us and that yielded the most accurate measurement to the distance of the moon ever done to that point. Unfortunately did not get to see his monument finished. He died in 1876 wasnt and was originally buried in San Francisco. His final wish was to be buried at his monument so james lick was disinterred from San Francisco in 1887 and reinterred here. His tomb is at the base of the telescope and the telescope itself is his tombstone. Tour staffour cities recently traveled to san jose, california, to learn about its rich history. Learn more at www. Cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan3. Where history unfolds daily. In 1970 nine, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Liebling talks about pope pius the twelfth and the Catholic Churchs secret actions against the nazis. He argued that, contrary to previous scholarship, the pope was involved in efforts to change the german regime, including plots to kill hitler. This talk was part of a multiday conference at the World War Ii Museum and its about an hour and 15 minutes