This conference, jointly presented by The Huntington and Carnegie Observatories, marks the centennial of the completion of the 100-inch Hooker telescope on Mount Wilson, which saw first light in November 1917. The world's largest telescope of the era, the 100-inch heralded the dawn of modern astronomy. Historians, scientists, curators of science collections, and others will explore the influence of big telescopes, the significance of discoveries at Mount Wilson, the gendered nature of astronomy, and other related issues in the history of Southern California as an arena for the exploration of space.
Registration for this 2-day conference is $25, with an optional buffet lunch each day for $20.
Conference registration is $10 for current Huntington docents, and free for current Long-Term Fellows and students with a current Student I.D. Please bring your current I.D. to event day check-in. Students, please note school affiliation after your name when registering.
Conference Schedule
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17
8:15 a.m. - Registration & Coffee
9:00 a.m. - Welcome: Steve Hindle (The Huntington) Remarks: Daniel Lewis (The Huntington)
9:15 a.m. - Session 1: Telescopes Past and Future Moderator: John Mulchaey (Carnegie Observatories)
Alan Dressler (Carnegie Observatories) Eyes on the Universe: Inventing the Telescope
Patrick McCray (University of California, Santa Barbara) When Astronomical Ambitions Met California Skies
10:45 a.m. - Break
11:00 a.m. - Session 2: Collaborations: Building Science across Boundaries Moderator: Daniel Lewis
Barbara Becker (University of California, Irvine) William Huggins and George Ellery Hale: Stalking the Secrets of the Sun
John Mulchaey Astronomy in a Connected World
12:30 p.m. - Lunch
1:30 p.m. - Session 3: Staring Into the Suns Moderator: John Mulchaey
Jay Pasachoff (Williams College) Studying Sunshine from Pasadena and Mount Wilson
Jennifer van Saders (University of Hawaii) Sounds and Spots: Kepler's Eye on the Stars
3:00 p.m. - Break
3:15 p.m. - Session 4: Taking the Measurement of the Stars Moderator: Daniel Lewis
David DeVorkin (National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian) Hale's Mount Wilson as a Physicist's Testbench
Harold McAlister (Georgia State University) Optical Interferometry: Ensuring Mount Wilson's Second Century of Science
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18
9:00 a.m. - Registration & Coffee
9:30 a.m. - Session 5: It's Elemental Moderator: John Mulchaey
Ronald Brashear (Chemical Heritage Foundation) The Observatory as Laboratory: Spectral Analysis at Mount Wilson Observatory
Andrew McWilliam (Carnegie Observatories) Origin of the Elements and Galactic Archaeology
11:00 a.m. - Beautiful Science exhibit tour by Daniel Lewis
12 p.m. - Lunch
1:00 p.m. - Session 6: VAR!: Hale, Shapley, Hubble and Beyond Moderator: Daniel Lewis
Marcia Bartusiak (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) How the 100-Inch and a Variable Star Revealed Our Modern Universe
Guillermo Blanc (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories) From VAR! to the Edge of the Universe
2:30 p.m. - Break
2:45 p.m. - Session 7: Faster Than Ever: The Accelerating Universe Moderator: John Mulchaey
Bryan Penprase (Soka University of America) Horizons: Conceptions of Cosmology from a Multi-Cultural Perspective
