Astronomer, Educator, and Optician
John A. Brashear
History Cover Page
John A Brashear (1840 - 1920)
John Brashear served as Acting Director of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory(then located on the campus of the Western University of Pennsylvania on Old Observatory Hill in Allegheny City, Pa., prior to the University's planned move to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh; with annexation to the City of Pittsburgh in 1907, Allegheny City became Pittsburgh's North Side) and, almost singlehandedly, raised the funds to build the three-dome Observatory building which exists today. He was also Acting Chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania(now, the University of Pittsburgh) and served on the Board of Directors of Carnegie Institute and the Carnegie Technical Schools(now Carnegie-Mellon University). He associated with many of Pittsburgh's captains of industry including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, George Westinghouse, William Thaw, and Henry Phipps.
With his love of people, particularly children, most Pittsburghers knew him as "Uncle John." The cremated remains of John Brashear, and his wife Phoebe, lie in a special crypt below the base of one of the telescopes Brashear's company produced for the Allegheny Observatory. From the poem, "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil," by Sarah Williams, which both Brashears loved, the epitaph on their spaces read:
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Autobiography
(Full text - in its entirety)
Biographical Fact Sheet & Brief Biography *** Short Biography *** Photo Album
Howell, Donna.
"John Brashear Kept His Goals In Sharp Focus."
Investor's Business Daily 2009 March 5: A3.
< http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ >. Posted 2009 March 4. Viewed 2009 March 5.
(Reprint of 2006 Oct. 18 article)
Howell, Donna.
"John Brashear Kept His Goals In Sharp Focus."
Investor's Business Daily 2006 Oct. 18: A3.
(Donna Howell, Technology Reporter, Investor's Business Daily)
Friends of the Zeiss Project Director Glenn A. Walsh is extensively
quoted in this national business newspaper article, regarding the life of
famous 19th century astronomer and lens maker
John A. Brashear,
who was a confidant of
Andrew Carnegie and
Henry Clay Frick.
Colleagues of John A. Brashear
Scientists: Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley *** Professor James E. Keeler
Philanthropists & Industrialists:
Andrew Carengie ***
Henry Clay Frick ***
Charles M. Schwab ***
Henry Phipps ***
George Westinghouse
John Brashear
Accompanies Andrew Carnegie
to Dedication of Andrew Carnegie
Free Library
John Brashear and the Historic 11-inch Refractor Telescope
11-inch Brashear Refractor at the Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory
Crater on Planet Mars Named for John Brashear
Friends of the Phoebe
The Phoebe, John Brashear's boat used on Lake Muskoka in Canada.
Wevers, Henk.
"The Restoration of the Historic Steam Launch Phoebe."
Magazine of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, Toronto Chapter 2002 March.
Henk Wevers, P.Eng.:
Coordinator Phoebe Restoration Group,
Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston.
Lowry, Patricia.
"Places: Bring an open mind to open house at the Brashears' Perry Hilltop home."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2008 Nov. 28.
Also talks about home's proximity to the original Allegheny Observatory run by S.P. Langley, and where Professor Langley did early experiments in heavier-than-air flight.
"Where to go ... Riverview Park."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2008 Nov. 23.
Brief history of Riverview Park, which was donted to the City of Allegheny in 1894. During the process to have this land donated as a public park, John Brashear had land set-aside in the park for construction of a new Allegheny Observatory, two miles north of the then-existing Allegheny Observatory, a site which would be further away from the industrial air emmisions of that era.
Nelson Jones, Diana.
"Grant could unlock history of Allegheny."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2008 Oct. 8.
Boren, Jeremy.
"Historian focuses on telescope pioneer Brashear."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 2008 Sept. 29.
Also reprinted --
Boren, Jeremy.
"Historian Focuses on Telescope Pioneer Brashear."
Sky and Telescope Magazine On-Line 2008 Sept. 29.
Heinrichs, Allison M.
"City's parks offer urban relief."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 2008 Sept. 21.
Highlights, with photos, Frick Park, Allegheny Observatory in Riverview Park, and Carnegie Lake in Schenley Park.
Boren, Jeremy.
"Pittsburgh filmmaker focuses on observatory."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 2008 Aug. 19.
Film on history of Allegheny Observatory. John A. Brashear was Acting Director of Allegheny Observatory, in addition to providing new Allegheny Observatory with two telescopes and other scientific apparatus.
Internet web site for Allegheny Observatory movie:
< http://www.aothemovie.com >.
Howell, Donna.
"John Brashear Kept His Goals In Sharp Focus."
Investor's Business Daily 2006 Oct. 18: A3.
Howell, Donna.
"John Brashear Kept His Goals In Sharp Focus."
Investor's Business Daily 2009 March 5: A3.
< http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ >. Posted 2009 March 4. Viewed 2009 March 5.
(Reprint of 2006 Oct. 18 article)
(Donna Howell, Technology Reporter, Investor's Business Daily)
Friends of the Zeiss Project Director Glenn A. Walsh is extensively
quoted in this national business newspaper article, regarding the life of
famous 19th century astronomer and lens maker
John A. Brashear,
who was a confidant of
Andrew Carnegie and
Henry Clay Frick.
Wevers, Henk.
"The Restoration of the Historic Steam Launch Phoebe."
Magazine of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, Toronto Chapter 2002 March.
Henk Wevers, P.Eng.:
Coordinator Phoebe Restoration Group,
Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston.
Potter, Chris.
You Had to Ask:
The Naming of Asteroids in Honor of
Pittsburgh and Allegheny City Actually Honors John Brashear.
Pittsburgh City Paper 1999 June 9.
Spice, Byron.
Pittsburgh
"Astronomer is Saluted as an Asteroid is Named for Him."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1996 Feb.
Carlin, Karen.
"Astronomical: 1908
Brashear Telescope Aimed at the Stars Again."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1995 Oct. 22
Obituary:
"Dr. J.A. Brashear Dead Following Long Sickness."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1920 April 8.
Brewster, Edwin Tenney.
"John A. Brashear of Pittsburgh
Whose Instruments of Precision Have Made Possible Many Important Discoveries in Physics and Astronomy."
McClure's Magazine 1911 April.
Keeler, J. E.
"Note on Repolishing Surfaces of Rock-Salt."
The Sidereal Messenger 5.7 (1886): 222-223.
Brashear, John A.
"A Practical Method of Working Rock Salt Surfaces for Optical Purposes."
The Sidereal Messenger 5.5 (1886): 149-151.
* 6-inch Brashear Refractor Telescope - Built for the School District of Pittsburgh around 1901 and installed in a new observatory atop the Sterrett Elementary School in the city's Point Breeze neighborhood in 1902 or 1903. This observatory was dismantled around the 1950s; the fate of this telescope is unknown. More information.
* 11-inch Brashear Refractor Telescope, commissioned by Andrew Carnegie for the students of the Carnegie Technical Schools/Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) to view Halley's Comet in 1910. Now operated for public star parties at the Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Park about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, by the Amateur Astronomers' Association of Pittsburgh. More info.
* The Ralph Mueller Observatory of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History - 10 1/2-inch refracting telescope built by the Warner & Swasey Co. of Cleveland in 1899. The renowned J.A. Brashear Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ground the telescope’s optics.
* Irving Porter Church Telescope (12-inch refractor telescope) at the Fuertes Observatory of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The Fuertes Observatory was built in 1917, while the lenses for the 12-inch refractor were commissioned in 1919 and delivered to Cornell University in 1920, the year of Dr. Brashear's death. The mounting and telescope body were produced by the
Warner & Swasey Company of Cleveland; there are several casses of Brashear optics being commissioned for Warner and Swasey telescopes. More information:
** Cornell University:
Fuertes Observatory ***
Observatory History
** Cornell Astronomical Society:
Fuertes Observatory ***
Photo Tour
* Bunyan Observatory Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Museum in Berthoud, Colorado (45 miles north of Denver) uses a Brashear 140mm (51/2-inch) multi-element refractor telescope mounted in a bras tube. Public observing with this telescope is free-of-charge on the third Friday of every month (weather-permitting).
Brashear, John A.
"A Practical Method of Working Rock Salt Surfaces for Optical Purposes."
The Sidereal Messenger 5.5 (1886): 149-151.
Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory, Russelton, Pennsylvania, of the
Deer Lakes Regional Park of the County of Allegheny, Russelton,
Pennsylvania
Amateur Astronomers' Association of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Brashear
Association, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
L-3 Brashear, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Brashear
High School of the
School District
of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
John A. Brashear Lodge No. 743
Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
History of The
Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
\Allegheny City Society,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks
Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh
Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Amateur Astronomers' Association of Pittsburgh<.a> -
(home of the
Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory)
(formerly Contraves Brashear Systems, L.P.)
Current successor to John Brashear's optical company
L-3 Brashear prepared the mirror of the 8.2-meter flagship telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the Subaru Telescope, which started astronomical research in January of 1999 on Mauna Kea in Hawaii:
Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania
John Brashear was instrumental in establishment of, what originally was called, the Carnegie Technical Schools.
(formerly the Carnegie Technical Schools and the Carnegie Institute of
Technology, and
also the Mellon Institute of
Industrial Research)
John Brashear served as Acting Chancellor of, what originally was called, the Western University of Pennsylvania.
(formerly the Pittsburgh Academy and the Western University of
Pennsylvania)
Other History Links
History of the Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
America's Fifth Major Planetarium
Preserving the history of Allegheny City and Pittsburgh's North Side
Operated by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries
History
of
the Andrew Carnegie Free Library Civil War Museum:
The Captain Thomas Espy Post #153, Grand Army of the Republic,
Carnegie, Pennsylvania
History Cover Page for The Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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