The amateur telescope making movement in the United States has had an incalculable positive influence on American science, engineering, and education starting from the early decades of the 19th century.  Highlights of the history are especially strong in their connection to New England and New York.  Many leading builders of American research telescopes started as self-taught hobbyists who expanded their enterprise into professional occupation.  The resulting instrumentation allowed an ascendancy in American astronomy and astrophysics in the late 19th century that continued through the 20th and onward.  The stories of the colorful people involved, the noble instruments constructed, and the adventurous discoveries resulting continue to engage and inspire students of all ages.

Talk Video

John W. Briggs is a native of Massachusetts and grew up under the spell of the annual Stellafane Convention for amateur telescope making in Springfield, Vermont, that has run almost every summer since 1926.  Briggs has lived and worked at far-ranging observatories in various technical capacities, including Mount Wilson, Yerkes, National Solar, Maria Mitchell, Venezuelan National, Chamberlin, and South Pole Station.  In the 1980s he was an assistant editor at Sky & Telescope magazine and built Bogsucker Observatory in Massachusetts.  Currently he operates FOAH Observatory and The Astronomical Lyceum in Magdalena, New Mexico, the Lyceum being an informal museum and library of astronomical history.  He was recently an invited speaker in an annual SPIE plenary session, "Lessons Learned," and the success of that presentation, linked here, has inspired this one for NES/OSA.  https://vimeo.com/451287860/e8c9ac6db3