Related papers: Frank McClean and the Ferncliffe Observatory at Tu…
William Sadler Franks (1851-1935) was astronomer-in-charge at F.J. Hanbury's private observatory at Brockhurst, near East Grinstead, Sussex, from 1909 until his death in 1935. This paper reviews the observational projects Franks undertook…
Bernie Mills is remembered globally as an influential pioneer in the evolving field of radio astronomy. His contributions with the 'Mills Cross' at the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics and later at the University of Sydney's School of Physics…
The first idea of establishing a public astronomical observatory in Florence, Capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, dates to the mid of the 18th century. Initially, the use of a low building on a high ground was proposed, and the hill of…
John Blake (1947--2016) was a leader in fluid mechanics, his two principal areas of expertise being biological fluid mechanics on microscopic scales and bubble dynamics. He produced leading research and mentored others in both Australia,…
The spectroheliograph was invented independently by Henri Deslandres (France) and George Hale (USA) in 1892, following the spectroscopic method suggested by Jules Janssen in 1869. This instrument is dedicated to the production of…
In this contribution Marcus Price gives a first hand account of some of the very first scientific observations undertaken with the "Giant Radio Telescope" at Parkes. It was clearly a very exciting time of discovery, enabled by superb…
Ancient instruments of high interest for research on the origin and diffusion of early scientific devices in the late XVI - early XVII centuries are reproduced in three paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder. We investigated the nature and the…
The spectroheliograph is a spectroscopic instrument designed to produce monochromatic images of the photosphere (the visible layer) and the chromosphere of the Sun. It was invented at the same time (1892), but independently, by Hale in the…
The English optician John Dollond (1706-1761) performed a number of experiments with prisms of various transparent materials and concluded that an achromatic lens could exist. At that time, the dominant opinion about light refraction denied…
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Paul Felenbok (1936-2020) who was astronomer at Paris-Meudon observatory, and founded in 1974, fifty years ago, a high altitude station (2930 m), above Saint V{\'e}ran village in the southern Alps…
While astronomical twilight closes the observing window for optical astronomers, the infrared sky remains dark even through sunrise, allowing IR astronomers to observe through twilight. The Slicer Combined with an Array of Lenslets for…
A new spectrograph (FIASCO) is in operation at the 0.9m telescope of the University Observatory Jena. This article describes the characterization of the instrument and reports its first astronomical observations, among those Li (670.8nm)…
Broad-band observations of the solar photosphere began in Meudon in 1875 under the auspices of Jules Janssen. For his part, Henri Deslandres initiated imaging spectroscopy in 1892 at Paris observatory. He invented, concurrently with George…
In the 1970s the microwave spectroscopy group at Monash University became the first in the world to determine the spectral frequencies of urea, glycine, and several other biomolecules. We immediately searched for these at Parkes, using…
Spectroscopy is one of the most important tools that an astronomer has for studying the universe. This chapter begins by discussing the basics, including the different types of optical spectrographs, with extension to the ultraviolet and…
We experimentally realize an analogue of the optical Maxwell fish-eye lens (MFEL) using phononic excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). A MFEL is characterized by a radially symmetric, spatially varying refractive index with the…
Henri Deslandres initiated imaging spectroscopy of the solar atmosphere in 1892 at Paris observatory. He invented, concurrently with George Hale in Kenwood (USA) but quite independently, the spectroheliograph designed for monochromatic…
Infrared spectroscopic observations have established the presence of hydrocarbon ices on Pluto and other TNOs, but the abundances of such molecules cannot be deduced without accurate optical constants (n, k) and reference spectra. In this…
Classical time-resolved optical spectroscopy experiments are performed using sequences of ultrashort light pulses, with photon fluxes incident on the sample which are many orders of magnitude higher than real-world conditions corresponding…
Speckle is the spatial fluctuation of irradiance seen when coherent light is reflected from a rough surface. It is due to light reflected from the surface's many nooks and crannies accumulating vastly-discrepant time delays, spanning much…