Alvan Clark

Infobox_Scientist
name = Alvan Clark


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birth_date = birth date|1804|3|8|mf=y
birth_place = Ashfield, Massachusetts
death_date = death date and age|1887|8|19|1804|3|8|mf=y
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nationality = American
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field = Astronomy
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Alvan Clark (March 8, 1804–August 19, 1887), born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, the descendant of a Cape Cod whaling family of English ancestry, [http://www.nndb.com/people/702/000167201/] was an American astronomer and telescope maker. He was a portrait painter and engraver, but at the age of 40 become involved in telescope making. Using glass blanks made by Chance Brothers of Birmingham and Feil-Mantois of Paris, his firm "Alvan Clark & Sons" ground lenses for refracting telescopes, including the largest in the world at the time: the convert|18.5|in|mm|sing=on at Dearborn Observatory at the Old University of Chicago (the lens was originally intended for Ole Miss), the convert|26|in|mm|sing=on at the United States Naval Observatory, the convert|30|in|mm|sing=on at Pulkovo Observatory (destroyed in the Siege of Leningrad; only the lens survives), the convert|36|in|mm|sing=on telescope at Lick Observatory (still third-largest) and later the convert|40|in|mm|sing=on at Yerkes Observatory, which remains the largest successful refracting telescope in the world. One of Clark's sons, Alvan Graham Clark, discovered the dim companion of Sirius. His other son was George Bassett Clark; both sons were partners in the firm.

Craters on the Moon and on Mars are named in his honor.

See also

*List of astronomical instrument makers
*List of largest optical refracting telescopes

References

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Persondata
NAME= Clark, Alvan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= American astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH= March 8, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH= Ashfield, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH= August 19, 1887
PLACE OF DEATH=