Secrets of the Hoary Deep: A Personal History of Modern Astronomy

Contents

Contents ix Preface xi ONE My Italian Roots 1 TWO New World: The Fulbright Fellowship 20 THREE Introducing X-Ray Astronomy 33 FOUR The First Celestial X-Ray Source: Discovering Sco X-1 45 FIVE Plans and Progress in X-Ray Astronomy 60 SIX The First Orbiting X-Ray Observatory: Uhuru 77 SEVEN Breakthrough: The Uhuru Results 92 EIGHT Constructing X-Ray Telescopes: Overcoming Technical and Institutional Hurdles 115 NINE Plans for Space and Realities on the Ground: LOXT, Einstein, and NASA 139 TEN The Einstein Results: Observation Collides with Theory 162 ELEVEN Transitions: From American Science and Engineering to Harvard 181 TWELVE The Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Telescope Science Institute 201 THIRTEEN Paradigm Shifts: The Space Telescope Science Institute at Work 223 FOURTEEN The Space Telescope Science Institute: Launch Readiness and Its Finest Hour 241 FIFTEEN Science at the Space Telescope Science Institute 260 SIXTEEN The European Southern Observatory 276 SEVENTEEN Building the Very Large Telescope 297 EIGHTEEN The Role of ESO in Major European Astronomy Programs 322 NINETEEN Radio Astronomy on the Radar 340 TWENTY First Loves and Last Words 358 Acronyms and Abbreviations 375 Notes 379 Name Index 391 Subject Index 399 Color plates follow page 240 Contents x ...