The Adaptive Optics Revolution: A History

Notes

355 Notes Introduction 1. The biggest refracting telescope today is the University of Chicago’s 1-meter Yerkes telescope in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, built in 1897. The largest reflecting telescopes are the twin 10-meter (32.8 feet) Keck telescopes, which tower eight stories high and became operational in May 1993 and October 1996. Both are located atop Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. Even bigger telescopes are planned for the future. The Thirty Meter Telescope, a joint effort by Caltech, the University of California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy, will be able to see objects in space one tenth as bright as those detected by the Keck telescopes. 2. An adaptive optics system works with an extremely small field of view where turbulence is the same throughout the viewing angle. Because an adaptive optics system compensates for atmospheric turbulence along a very narrow line of sight to the viewing object—analogous to tunnel vision or looking through a soda straw—the system is not suited for producing wide-angle or panoramic images. Chapter One 1. The Russian word Sputnik meant traveling companion of the Earth—see Paul Dickson, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century (New York: Walker Publishing Company, 2001), p. 12. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, http://www. darpa.mil (accessed 27 November 2002); William J. Perry, “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: Technology Transition,” internal report, January 1997, p. 9; Jonathan E. Lewis, Spy Capitalism: Itek and the CIA (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), pp. 46–63. | Notes to pages 2–5 356 2. Laika, the first animal launched into orbit, died in space when her air supply ran out. Curtis Peebles, High Frontier: The United States Air Force and the Military Space Program (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997), p. 9; Donald R. Baucom, “Eisenhower and Ballistic Missile Defense: The Formative Years, 1944–1961,” Air Power History, Winter 2004, p. 10. 3. Peebles, High Frontier, p. 9. 4. Ibid.; Baucom, “Eisenhower and Ballistic Missile Defense,” p. 10. 5. Freedom’s Sentinel in Space, CD-ROM, National Reconnaissance Office, Office of the Historian, 2000; Walter A. McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (New York: Basic Books, 1985), pp. 123, 131, 134, 142, 146–148; James R. Killian Jr., Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1977), pp. xvii, 2–12; Peebles, High Frontier, pp. 8–9. 6. One of the educational reforms Congress passed was the National Defense Education Act, which set aside money for scholarships for students to become math and science teachers. Paul Donnelly, ed., The Itek News: Special Tenth Anniversary Issue, 1957–1967 (Lexington, MA: Itek, n.d., ca. September 1967), pp. 1–12; Dickson, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, pp. 225–231. 7. The first edition of the PSSC Physics high school textbook was published in 1960. Notes to author from James W. Mayo III, Northrop Grumman, 13 May 2004; Lawrence S. Lerner, “An Outstanding and Inspiring Book, Strongly Recommended,” The Textbook Letter, May–June 1992, http://www. textbookleague.org (accessed 20 April 2005); Lester F. Rentmeester, “Open Skies Policy and the Origin of the U.S. Space Program,” Air Power History, Summer 2004, p. 43. 8. Killian, Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower, pp. 2–3. 9. Eisenhower’s appointment of Killian was a deliberate move to include a representative at the highest levels of government to promote the value of science and technology. Killian, Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower, pp. 3, 120; Matt Bille and Erika Lishock, The First Space Race (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), pp. 118–119; Eric Pace, “James Killian, 83, Science Adviser, Dies,” The New York Times, 31 January 1988. 10. Major General John Bruce Medaris was determined for years that the Army should be responsible for developing missile boosters for getting America’s first satellite into space. The Army reasoned that rocket technology was an extension of artillery technology. Von Braun, who worked to develop the German V-2 rocket at Peenemuende during World War II, came to the United States after the war as part of Operation Paperclip, which tested about 100 German V-2 rockets at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Von Braun became one of the most influential figures on the American Notes to pages 6–9 357 space team. Killian, Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower, pp. 119–120; Loyd S. Swenson Jr., James M...