Observatory joins in project to build twin telescopes in the mountains in Chile

In the midst of an era that is witnessing a prolific series of astounding astronomical discoveries, the historically strong Harvard astronomy program is reemerging at the forefront of this exciting field.

The Harvard College Observatory is joining in the construction and operation of two 6.5-meter-aperture optical/infrared telescopes in Chile.

Not since the 1920s, when Harvard's southern station in Arequipa, Peru, was last in operation, have Harvard astronomers had the promise of guaranteed time on a telescope in the Andes, where viewing conditions are nearly perfect. Las Campanas, Chile, with an elevation of 2,400 meters, far from city lights and favored by extraordinarily stable air, has proved a superior observing site, according to Irwin I. Shapiro, director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Harvard College Observatory. Shapiro is also Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy and professor of physics.

"These telescopes will give us access to the Southern sky," says Shapiro. "Especially important are the views they provide of the center of the Milky Way and of our interesting neighbors, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds."

"Astronomers use telescopes as the essential tools to collect light for subtle analysis that can yield data about the distribution, structure, composition, and motion of remote objects," explains Professor of Astronomy Robert P. Kirshner, chair of the Department of Astronomy. "A large telescope at an optimal site can detect light that has been traveling toward us for a large fraction of the age of the universe, estimated at between 10 and 20 billion years. A telescope is a time machine with no hokum: we literally see into the past to observe the evolution of the universe."

To build two telescopes

Are two telescopes twice as good as one? Yes. Scientists will have twice as much observing time. And the telescopes can be outfitted with different instruments so that astronomers can simultaneously make different kinds of observations.

The astronomers also will be able to operate the two telescopes as one, with the light from each directed toward a common point where the light is then combined using highly sophisticated techniques. In this way, a view of a celestial object can be obtained with a resolution more than tenfold higher than would be possible with either telescope alone. With this powerful method, far finer details of celestial objects will be discernible.

Components come from many different sources during the long process of building a telescope. For instance, more than 240 tons of steel were shipped from Spain to Chile in 1995 for the enclosure, the auxiliary, and the control buildings. A California engineering company built the mount and mirror cell and will ship them to Chile later this year. The primary mirror was cast and ground at the University of Arizona's Mirror Laboratory and awaits polishing. The first telescope is expected to be operational by mid-1999. The concrete foundations have been laid for the second telescope.

The Magellan Project, as the twin-telescope undertaking is called, involves a consortium led by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 and devoted to scientific discovery. Other partners are the University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Astronomy at Harvard

While the founding of the Harvard College Observatory in 1839 is generally considered the beginning of the rise of astronomy at Harvard, the field's history extends back to Harvard's formative years.

Astronomy was first taught at Harvard as early as 1642. In 1764, a fire at Harvard Hall destroyed all but one of Harvard's several telescopes. Well-wishers including Benjamin Franklin soon helped restock Harvard's astronomical inventory.

In the early 1820s, then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams urged the creation of an observatory at Harvard, believing the country needed a site for astronomical research and that his own college was just the place for it. While a national observatory was not forthcoming, Harvard did succeed in opening its Observatory in 1839. Thus began the work of an unusually productive succession of Harvard astronomers who have helped to shape our view of the universe, probing its structure and studying its history.

In the 1890s, Harvard professor E. C. Pickering, then director of the Observatory, initiated the construction of a telescope in Peru, the first site in the Southern Hemisphere opened by a university.

Annie Jump Cannon had a brilliant career at the Observatory from 1836 to 1941. A staff researcher, she became the premier classifier of stars and a leading authority on stellar spectra. She was the first woman awarded an honorary degree by Oxford and the first woman officer of the American Astronomical Society. In 1938, at the age of 75, she was named the William Cranch Bond Astronomer at Harvard.

Harlow Shapley, who became the director of the Observatory in 1921, employed data gathered from both hemispheres to map the local distribution of galaxies, providing the first clues to the lumpy texture of the universe we now see.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was co-located with the Harvard College Observatory in 1956, and in 1973 they joined forces to establish the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, now home to some 800 staff.

Today, the Harvard faculty is particularly strong in observational astronomy and will benefit greatly from the Magellan Project.

Irwin Shapiro is an expert in interferometry -- the technique to be used with the Magellan telescopes to enable astronomers to discern fine details in the structure of astronomical objects. He is presently collaborating with an international team of 13 other astronomers to use this technique with a global network of radio telescopes; they will produce a "movie" showing the fine details of the expanding debris from an exploding star, "all in living color," Shapiro adds.

Professors of Astronomy Margaret J. Geller and John P. Huchra have pioneered efforts to map the structure of the universe. By measuring the redshifts of thousands of galaxies, they are slowly filling in the blank spaces in our knowledge of the distribution of matter. With the 6.5-meter-aperture telescopes, they can extend their maps deeper into unexplored regions of the universe.

Robert Kirshner is working on a method to measure the size of the universe by observing exploding stars, or supernovae. "One difficulty with studying these cosmic catastrophes is that such stars give no warning of their impending collapse," he says. "Because the use of most telescopes is scheduled six months in advance, many opportunities to study supernovae are lost. The instruments at the Magellan telescopes will be designed so that more than one telescope can be conveniently used on a given night and we will be able to carry out important observations on short notice."

Besides their research activities, Harvard astronomers teach classes that attract more than 600 College students annually. "I believe that astronomy is the physical science that appeals most directly to the imagination of our undergraduates," says Kirshner. "We have the opportunity to convince them that quantitative thinking and experimental evidence are ways of understanding the world. Besides, we have the most beautiful things to look at!"

SIDEBAR: Alumni support critical

With a gift of $8.5 million, Landon T. Clay '50 has provided critical support for Harvard's participation in the Magellan Project.

"I'm proud to be part of the private funding of basic research," says Clay, adding that at a time when government funding has decreased substantially, private investment in science is particularly important.

He continues: "It became apparent, after a somewhat slow start, that the prospects for the Magellan Project were greatly improved by building a second identical telescope directly following the first, thereby utilizing the teams and facilities already assembled."

Commenting on the current breakthroughs, Clay says: "Great enthusiasm prevails among astronomers today about the large number of unexpected and potent discoveries in observational astronomy. It is said that this is one of the most interesting times in astronomy since Galileo first applied the optical telescope to searching the night sky almost 400 years ago.

"Astronomy addresses the fundamental questions of the universe and it is appropriate for universities to concern themselves with these," says Clay, adding, "Harvard is unique in the world for advancing science in a humanistic environment."

"Serious learning is ultimately rooted in a passionate curiosity to discover more about ourselves and our universe, and astronomy is a field that gives full scope to that sense of discovery and wonder," says President Neil L. Rudenstine. "Landon Clay has contributed greatly to Harvard's efforts to explore the universe, and we deeply appreciate his thoughtfulness and generosity, especially at a moment when continued strong support for basic research is so important."

Chairman of the board of the Boston mutual fund management firm Eaton Vance Corp., Clay has supported the sciences at Harvard for decades. In 1968, he endowed the Landon T. Clay Professorship of Mathematics and Theoretical Sciences (the incumbent is Arthur M. Jaffe). With his younger brother, Harris Clay '50, he established in 1979 the Clay Science Fund, the first of several discretionary funds he would create to support research. Clay set up another dean's discretionary science fund in 1982, named for Henry Rosovsky. And in 1983, Clay endowed the Landon T. Clay Professorship of Scientific Archaeology; its incumbent is Nikolaas J. van der Merwe.

Clay, a former member of the Board of Overseers who now serves on the Committee on University Resources Campaign Executive Committee, has been especially generous during The University Campaign. He has already given Harvard $3.2 million to supplement the budget of the Department of Mathematics and $2.4 million to establish a third dean's fund for research and recruitment in the sciences. Clay's campaign gifts now total $14 million.

"Landon is a very special alumnus: intellectually eclectic and excited by developments in science," says Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles. "Thanks to his generosity, astronomy has been lifted up as we move into the next century."

Clay says: "I wanted Harvard to be able to purchase the expensive laboratory equipment that is so often needed to attract leading scientists. Harvard's faculty, especially the junior faculty who have not yet achieved national prominence, need seed money for their research. Modern science is so very capital-intensive, and few opportunities exist for extremely talented young investigators to pursue astronomical research.

"I took no astronomy courses at Harvard," notes Clay, but his interest in the subject has been developing for years. "As an 11-year-old boy, I first put on glasses and was thrilled to see the stars of Orion's Belt as points of light, not as a blur."

Recalling a recent trip to Las Campanas, Clay reports, "Seeing the splendor of the Milky Way from the Southern Hemisphere was unforgettable. The overwhelming immediacy of the stars in our galaxy instills reverence in the observer -- something far too rare in this secular age."

Clay, a member of the Smithsonian Institution national board, is an ardent enthusiast of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, calling it "a jewel."

The second telescope will be named the Landon Clay Telescope in honor of Clay's contribution to the project.

Clay also appreciates the role of women in furthering the Harvard astronomy department. "Astronomy is gender-neutral, a meritocracy," he says. "Women have not always received credit for their important contributions, but now they are being recognized, which I think is proper and only fair."

James S. Smith '49, president of The Arnold D. Frese Foundation, garnered considerable support for the Magellan Project in its early days. The Frese Foundation's $3 million gift enabled Harvard to seize the opportunity of joining the consortium responsible for the project. "Thanks to this gift, we were able to become credible participants in the project," says Irwin Shapiro.

Clay as well singles out James and Laura Smith for their foresight in advancing the project. "I am happy to follow Jim and Laura's initiative," he says.

A second interested alumnus, the late A. Lee Loomis Jr.'35, LLB '39, then contributed $3 million for the South American venture.

The Frese Foundation subsequently added $1.5 million to its commitment, for a total of $4.5 million.