George Willis Ritchey

George Willis Ritchey (December 31, 1864 – November 4, 1945) was an American

optician An optician, or ''dispensing optician'', is a technical practitioner who designs, fits and dispenses lenses for the correction of a person's vision. Opticians determine the specifications of various ophthalmic appliances that will give the nec ...

and telescope maker and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

born at

Tuppers Plains, Ohio Tuppers Plains is a census-designated place on the boundary of the Olive and Orange townships of Meigs County, Ohio, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or Americ ...

. Ritchey was educated as a furniture maker. He coinvented the Ritchey–Chrétien (R–C) reflecting telescope along with

Henri Chrétien Henri Jacques Chrétien (1 February 1879, Paris – 6 February 1956, Washington, D.C.) was a French astronomer and an inventor. Born in Paris, France, his most famous inventions are: - the anamorphic widescreen process, using an anamorphic ...

. The R-C prescription remains the predominant optical design for telescopes and has since been used for the majority of major ground-based and space-based telescopes. He worked closely with

George Ellery Hale George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) 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 world-lead ...

, first at Yerkes Observatory and later at Mt. Wilson Observatory. He played a major role in designing the mountings and making the mirrors of the Mt. Wilson and telescopes. Hale and Ritchey had a falling out in 1919, and Ritchey eventually went to Paris where he promoted the construction of very large telescopes. He returned to America in 1930 and obtained a contract to build a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope for the U.S. Naval Observatory. This last telescope produced by Ritchey remains in operation at the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1924, he received the

Prix Jules Janssen The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society. This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...

, the highest award of the

Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law ( Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpose ...

, the French astronomical society.

Crater Crater may refer to: Landforms * Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet * Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surf ...

s on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

and the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

were named in his honor. A very readable biography of Ritchey and Hale is in Don Osterbrock's book "Pauper and Prince - Ritchey, Hale and the Big American Telescopes" (The university of Arizona Press, 1993) where the idiosyncratic personalities of both Ritchey and Hale are exposed.

See also

Obituaries