Doctor: "I've got some bad news and some really bad news. The bad news is you only have a week to live."
Patient: "What could be worse news than that?"
Doctor: "I've been trying to contact you for the last 6 days."
TelescopeIn 1851, the first U.S. patent for a telescope design was issued to Alvan Clark of Cambridge, Mass. (No. 8,509). Clark was a portrait painter who was interested in astronomy as were so many others at that time. He had made several small lenses and mirrors as a hobby. The fact that he could detect the small residual errors in one of the the best lenses Europe could offer convinced him that he could do as well. After he gained a reputation in Europe the American orders started to come in. The Alvin Clark Company became one of the foremost producers of some of the largest lenses for telescopes in the 1800's.* |
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