Alvan Clark (March 8, 1804 – August 19, 1887), born in

Ashfield, Massachusetts Ashfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,695 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Ashfield was first settled in 1743 and was offi ...

, the descendant of a Cape Cod whaling family of English ancestry, was an American

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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

maker.

Biography

He started as a portrait painter and engraver (c.1830s-1850s), and at the age of 40 became involved in telescope making. Using glass blanks made by

Chance Brothers Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance fami ...

of Birmingham and Feil-Mantois of Paris, his firm ''

Alvan Clark & Sons Alvan Clark & Sons was an American maker of optics that became famous for crafting lenses for some of the largest refracting telescopes of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1846 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, by Alvan Clark (1804&n ...

'' ground lenses for

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...

s. Their lenses included the largest in the world at the time: the at

Dearborn Observatory The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston, Illinois, Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888, through an agreement between the university and the Chicago ...

at the

Old University of Chicago The Old University of Chicago was the legal name given in 1890 to the University of Chicago's first incorporation. The school, founded in 1856 by Baptist church leaders, was originally called the "University of Chicago" (or, interchangeably, "Ch ...

(the lens was originally intended for Ole Miss), the two telescopes at the

United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

and

McCormick Observatory The Leander McCormick Observatory is one of the astronomical observatories operated by the Department of Astronomy of the University of Virginia, and is situated just outside Charlottesville, Virginia (US) in Albemarle County on the summit of Mo ...

, the at

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

(destroyed in the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...

; only the lens survives), the telescope at

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

(still third-largest) and later the at

Yerkes Observatory Yerkes Observatory ( ) is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. The observatory was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 to 2018. Owne ...

, which remains the largest successful refracting telescope in the world. Although not specifically searching for

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a bi ...

s, he did make a number of discoveries while testing his completed telescope objectives, including

Mu Herculis Mu Herculis (μ Herculis) is a nearby quadruple star system about 27.1 light years from Earth in the constellation Hercules (constellation), Hercules. Its main star, Mu Herculis A is fairly similar to the Sun although more hig ...

8 Sextantis Gamma Sextantis, Latinized as γ Sextantis, is a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Sextans. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the system is 5.05, which means it is faintly visible to the naked eye. The annual ...

, and 95 Ceti. One of Clark's sons,

Alvan Graham Clark Alvan Graham Clark (July 10, 1832 – June 9, 1897) was an American astronomer and telescope-maker. Biography Alvan Graham Clark was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, the son of Alvan Clark, founder of Alvan Clark & Sons. On January 31, 1862, ...

, discovered the dim companion of

Sirius Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...

. Two craters bear Clark Sr.'s name. The crater

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

on 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 ...

is jointly named for him and his son, Alvan Graham Clark, and one on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

is named in his honour. His other son was

George Bassett Clark George Bassett Clark (February 14, 1827 – December 20, 1891) was an American instrument maker and astronomer. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts and educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, he was the son of Alvan Clark, part of a family of ref ...

; both sons were partners in the firm. Clark was also competitive in target shooting and received a patent for his device to allow bullets to be seated into a muzzle loading rifle without damage to either the bullet or the rifle's muzzle. Exclusive license to this patent (1,565 of April 24, 1840) was made to Edwin Wesson, brother of

Daniel B. Wesson Daniel Baird Wesson (May 18, 1825 – August 4, 1906) was an American inventor and firearms designer. He helped develop several influential firearm designs over the course of his life; he and Horace Smith were the co-founders of two companies n ...

. In 1880, Clark was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Image gallery

;Portraits by Clark Image:FemalePortrait ca1835 byAlvanClark MetropolitanMuseumOfArt.png, Portrait of an unidentified woman, c. 1835 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Image:JohnPickering ca1840 byAlvanClark MFA Boston.png, Portrait of John Pickering, c. 1840 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Image:SamuelHallGregory ca1840s byAlvanClark Smithsonian.png, Portrait of

Samuel Hall Gregory __NOTOC__ Samuel Hall Gregory (1814–1892) was an interior decorator and wallpaper manufacturer, importer and retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. "He was known for being one of the first 'high society' decorators in America ...

, c. 1840s (Smithsonian) Image:1846 JosephStory byAlvanClark MFABoston.png, Portrait of

Joseph Story Joseph Story (September 18, 1779 – September 10, 1845) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in ''Martin v. Hunter's Lessee'' and ''United States ...

, 1846 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

References

* *

External links

National Gallery of Art
has works by Clark * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Alvan 1804 births 1887 deaths American astronomers Telescope manufacturers Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery People from Ashfield, Massachusetts Recipients of the Lalande Prize

Biography

See also

Image gallery

References

Further reading

External links