[Leica] IMG: Telescope - Leviathan builder

[jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols)]

Very interesting.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 9/25/2016 8:18 PM, Douglas Barry wrote:
> With today's testing of the largest telescope in the world in China, I 
> took a walk to a house around the corner where noted Irish astronomer 
> William Parsons - the third Earl of Rosse - died. He came to 
> Monkstown's sea air for his health, and lived here at No. 1 Eaton 
> Place for a few years until he died. Parsons' wife Mary Rosse - the 
> mother of his thirteen children - found the time to be an eminent 
> pioneer photographer, as well as being, of all things, an excellent 
> blacksmith.
>
> Parsons is known for the making of the Leviathan of Parsonstown which 
> was the largest telescope in the world for seventy two years from 
> 1845. Amazingly enough for the time, his wife Mary - the amateur 
> blacksmith - did much of the metalwork for the huge telescope. 
> Parsonstown has now reverted to its Irish name of Birr, but its castle 
> and telescope still attract many visitors.
>
> Parsons' son Charles was also a genius, and, with the sea at his young 
> feet in Monkstown, he developed an interest in all things marine. He 
> invented the steam turbine which powered his private yacht Turbinia at 
> great speed, and he famously upstaged the Royal Navy in the 1890s, 
> effectively causing a complete redesign of the British fleet.
>
> Since I've moved to Monkstown, I've been waiting for my own flashes of 
> genius. Still waiting....
>
> This is the plaque on the house
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/Monkstown/Parsons.jpg.html
> Fuji X100S
> See Large
>
> Wikipedia has a lot of stuff on Parsons.
>
> Douglas
>
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