Monday, January 24, 2011

Palomar History Photo of the Week - Sitting Down on the Job

A couple of weeks ago I posted photos of the mirror cell for the 200-inch telescope as it arrived in California via ship. This week's photo was taken January 27, 1936 - two weeks after its arrival.


It shows the mirror cell sitting on the mirror's grinding machine with a member of the optical shop posed sitting with his legs in the center hole. Note that there are three other people in the photo working on the rail to the upper right of the mirror cell. Unlike the man posed on the cell, they were working look blurry - a result of the slow films in use back then.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    Even though the 1930's were a big economic disaster... I think I would have liked to live then....if I could have had a job building the Hoover dam or Palomar Observatory. Pride of workmanship is often much more satisfying than just the paycheck.

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