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"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
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![]() The first electrical detection of starlight was made by William Monck in Dublin in 1892, using a photovoltaic cell. However, the photoelectric potassium hydride cells made by Julius Elster and Hans Geitel in Germany marks the beginning of stellar photoelectric photometry in 1912.
The idea of projecting the light from a telescope onto a screen is a commonplace way to conduct solar observations; however, this is an actual projection from the optical components of the telescope. The telescope described here is projecting an actual picture (in color!) of the distant objects based on photoelectric data. When were usable pictures created electronically? I'm thinking that this didn't happen until the development of CCD (charged couple device) image sensors, which started in the early 1960's.
So, I still think Williamson was one step ahead of the day's astronomers. Anyone?
Thanks to an anonymous reader who put me on the right track with star meridian transit devices. Also, take a look at Photoelectric Photometry.
Compare to the
Liquid Mirror Telescope from Old Faithful (1934) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the
electro-telescope from Blood of the Moon (1936) by Ray Cummings, the
ultra-telescope ray from The Moon Weed (1931) by Harl Vincent, the
hyperspace beacon from The Repairman (1959) by Harry Harrison, and the robot observatory from Space Rating (1939) by John Berryman. Comment/Join this discussion ( 3 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
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'... the brain is no longer subjected to the accustomed pull, and it expands slightly in all directions.'
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