John Dobson - A brief biography

[John]

John Dobson invented the concept of the dobsonian telescope. I came across this biography on the website of the Sidewalk Astronomers, the club / group that John Dobson formed to popularise astronomy. I think it's an interesting story

http://www.sidewalkastronomers.us/id32.html

[faulksy]

very interesting find that john, didnt no he was a monk, seen his side walk show as well that was good

[ollypenrice]

A truly great man and an incredibly nice one.

Olly

[swamp thing]

Truly an inspiration to millions. I'd like to shake his hand for what his telescopes have shown me.

[estwing]

Truly an inspiration to millions. I'd like to shake his hand for what his telescopes have shown me.

well said steve..me too

[JamesF]

I watched the documentary about him a while back. He seems to have some quite "out there" ideas about cosmology, but came across as a smart, warm and funny man who dedicated a large part of his live to sharing his passion for no other reason than that he thought it was important that people should see what was out there beyond Earth. He also struck me as one of the few people I've ever seen or met who seemed to be genuinely at peace with themselves and the world.

James

[Cath]

Do you know if that documentary is available on line James?

[Steve Ward]

Someone kindly uploaded the full documentary a couple of days ago ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y6gXBjJXUo

[JamesF]

That's the one.

James

[Cath]

Thank you Steve! .. just downloading it now.

[keithatrochdale]

The 30" dob we have at the Astronomy Centre is signed by the man himself.

We are in the process of building a new home for it and bringing it back into service.

[Qualia]

In a peculiar way, as I watched the video and read the bio, he reminded me of my image of Spinoza, the 17th century philosopher. The way one would grind his mirrors, the other his lenses, their childlike sense of wonder towards the unknown, their informed dispositions towards a sense of Pantheism, and the similarity between their thought and the Vedanta. As a natural consequence, I imagine Dobson, like Spinoza, will probably be considered by many, during his lifetime and for a while after his death, a man of bizarre thought and eccentricities, someone to warn your children about and the perils of thinking for one's self; a man not totally of his time. Like Spinoza, Dobson has passed on riches to mankind without thought of compensation and so too, will probably die in relative poverty and obscurity. Like Spinoza, his metaphysics might be hard to swallow, one that science or much philosophy cannot accept, but I get the impression that he is one of the noblest and most lovable of great astronomers.

Thanks for this. The read and video have really made my Monday morning.

[Beulah]

Thanks for the link to John's biography - what a fascinating read!

Thanks also for the link to the documentary - I have been looking for it for absolutely ages.

[JamesF]

In a peculiar way, as I watched the video and read the bio, he reminded me of my image of Spinoza, the 17th century philosopher. The way one would grind his mirrors, the other his lenses, their childlike sense of wonder towards the unknown, their informed dispositions towards a sense of Pantheism, and the similarity between their thought and the Vedanta. As a natural consequence, I imagine Dobson, like Spinoza, will probably be considered by many, during his lifetime and for a while after his death, a man of bizarre thought and eccentricities, someone to warn your children about and the perils of thinking for one's self; a man not totally of his time. Like Spinoza, Dobson has passed on riches to mankind without thought of compensation and so too, will probably die in relative poverty and obscurity. Like Spinoza, his metaphysics might be hard to swallow, one that science or much philosophy cannot accept, but I get the impression that he is one of the noblest and most lovable of great astronomers.

He will at least be remembered by the telescope mount named after him. As I said earlier, I think some of his views on cosmology are a bit "out there", but I think his willingness to question accepted wisdom is to be applauded and should be held up as a positive example. It appeals to me that he describes whatever caused the universe to be the way it is as "the exterior decorator". It's a very polite and engaging way of saying "I don't know what your views are and I don't want to know; you don't know what mine are and I'm not going to tell you. Let's just concentrate on looking at it because it's there to be seen."

The world would, I think, be a better place if there were more people like him.

James

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting

[Cath]

Passer by: "What are we looking at?"

John: "Each other"

[JamesF]

Passer by: "What are we looking at?"

John: "Each other"

That amused me too. I think rather than being flippant he may be trying to make a valid scientific point though, in that to get the information you really want, first you must ask the right question. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but throughout the film there are instances where my reading of it is that he uses humour to draw attention to something deeper.

However, I think my favourite of his quotes is that "the Universe is mostly Hydrogen and ignorance"

James

[Treeden]

"This isn't like ice-cream, you can have as many servings as you want"

Nice.

[John]

I think his best line is "Everybody has got to see this !"

I do occasionally wonder, if every adult and child had a chance to view the night sky with a decent telescope for, say, an hour, what the impact would eventually be ?

Not a major one granted but perhaps something more subtle perhaps. Who knows ?

[Peter Drew]

That's our objective.

[Scosmico]

Thanks Steve.

I loved watching it.

Happy to see that I am not the only one that loves to tease physicists.

[Scosmico]

Keith, put the schedule in the website that I will be happy to join the efforts.