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John Dobson and His Revolution

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Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy

Part of the book series: Historical & Cultural Astronomy ((HCA))

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Abstract

Amateur astronomers the world over have a lot to thank John Dobson for. This author, for one, is a grateful beneficiary of the revolution he started back in the 1970s, when he spearheaded a movement to bring large aperture views to the masses. Poverty was his life choice and the Dobsonian telescope the mother of his inventions. And what an invention that was! You only need to venture to some fair sized star party or your local astronomy club observing evenings to see just how far reaching Dobson’s vision has become. For it is unquestionably true that of all the different kinds of telescopes used by amateurs, Dobsonians are, by far, the most popular (Fig. 39.1).

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English, N. (2018). John Dobson and His Revolution. In: Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97707-2_39

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