Saturday, October 21, 2006

Brashear, a man with excellent vision, given his telescopes and ability to share

Investor's Business Daily, the national business newspaper published in Los Angeles, printed a biography of prominent 19th century astronomer and lens-maker John A. Brashear, near the top of page A3 of their Wednesday edition, by their Technology Reporter, Donna Howell.

Affectionately known as "Uncle John" to residents of Pittsburgh, Mr. Brashear, with little money and limited education, became the premiere producer of telescopes and precise scientific instruments in the latter part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, and the confidant of major industrialists of the time including Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick.

There is one mistake in the article, when it is said that John Brashear became Chancellor of a school that became the University of Pennsylvania. He actually became Chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania, which became the University of Pittsburgh.

Friends of the Zeiss Project Director Glenn A. Walsh and Allegheny Observatory Director George Gatewood were interviewed and quoted for this article, read here or http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=21&issue=20061017.

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