George Ellery Hale

George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several worldleading telescopes namely, the 40inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory, 60inch Hale reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, 100inch Hooker reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson, and the 200inch Hale reflecting telescope at Palomar Observatory.

George Ellery Hale was born on June 29, 1868 in Chicago, Illinois to William Ellery Hale and Mary Browne. He is descended from Thomas Hale of WattononStone, Hertfordshire, England, whose son emigrated to America about 1640. His father acquired a considerable fortune manufacturing and installing passenger elevators during the reconstruction of Chicago, which had been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The oldest of three children, George received strong encouragement from his father, who supported the boys active mind and curiosity, and his mother, who inculcated in him a love of poetry and literature. He spent his youth fascinated by the books and machinery given to him by his parentsone of his most prized possessions was a small microscope. With his fathers encouragement, he built a small shop in their house that turned into a laboratory. The microscope led to his interest in optics. At the age of fourteen, George built his first telescope. His father later replaced it with

Source: Wikipedia