The Past's Future - George Ellery Hale - The Journey to Palomar

Last Wednesday I was fortunate to stumble upon the PBS presentation - The Journey to Palomar which traced the life of George Ellery Hale and that period of astronomical history. (Trailer is linked above.)  I was overwhelmed by the documentary.  First of all, it is not a subject that I have studied and therefore much of it was new to me. But, the aspect that I found most important and impressive was the enormity of the projects presented relative to their time and world history. Putting aside the great minds involved, the talents, abilities and dedication of the men and women who worked to assemble and build the projects needs to be appreciated in light of the tools, materials and methodologies of their times, not ours.  For they were truly "going where no man had gone before." This is something that I felt the movie did well.

It is well worth viewing and I would encourage those in education to find ways of incorporating it into their classes.  We need to be reminded that "Technology" did not begin with the computer which currently occupies so much of our thoughts.  What mankind has achieved with pure power, brute force, ingenuity and an acceptance of high risks of failure and danger is amazing. It should not be minimized or forgotten. After all, we still are amazed that the pyramids were ever built.

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