Physics Assignment

A photo of the Messier 51 galaxy

taken on June 3, 1902 at the
Yerkes Observatory

The largest lens in the world

The largest lens in use today has a diameter of 102 cm (40) and a
focal length of 19.4 m. It is used in a telescope in the USA, called the
Yerkes Observatory. It is an astronomical observatory in Williams Bay,
Wisconsin operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy
and Astrophysics. The observatory, which calls itself "the birthplace of
modern astrophysics, was founded in 1897 by astronomer George Ellery
Hale and financed by businessman Charles T. Yerkes. It represented a
shift in the thinking about observatories, from their being mere housing for
telescopes and observers, to the modern concept of observation
equipment integrated with laboratory space for physics and chemistry.
The observatory has the world's largest refracting telescope successfully
used for astronomy and a collection of over 170,000 photographic plates.
Notable astronomers who have conducted research at Yerkes include:

Edwin Hubble (who did his graduate work at Yerkes and for whom the Hubble Space Telescope was named)

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (for

whom the Chandra Space
Telescope was named),

Otto Struve,[8] a prolific RussianAmerican astronomer

Carl Sagan, the twentieth-century popularizer of astronomy

Photo of the 100 cm

(40 in) refractor at the
Yerkes Observatory

Yerkes Observatory's 100 cm (40 in) refracting telescope was built by the
refracting telescope company Alvan Clark & Sons. It is the largest
refracting telescope used for scientific research.
Research conducted at Yerkes includes work on:

interstellar medium,

globular cluster formation,

infrared astronomy,

Near-Earth objects.

Physics Assignment
pg 73 Largest lens

Dinesh Kumar Grade 10F

15/11/16

The University of Chicago also maintains an engineering center in the

observatory, dedicated to making and maintaining scientific instruments.
Aerial view of the
Yerkes Observatory

References:
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yerkes-observatory
http://www.space.com/26858-yerkes-observatory.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes_Observatory

Physics Assignment
pg 73 Largest lens

Dinesh Kumar Grade 10F

15/11/16