Russell W. Porter
Encyclopedia
Russell Williams Porter was an American
artist
, engineer
, amateur astronomer
and explorer. He was a pioneer in the field of “cutaway illustration" and is sometimes referred to as the "founder" or one of the "founders" of amateur telescope making
."
. His parents were Frederick and Caroline Porter. Russell showed an early aptitude for art. He graduated from Vermont Academy
in 1891 and went on to study engineering at Norwich University
and at the University of Vermont
and later studied architecture and art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
.
Porter became interested in the arctic
when he attended Robert Peary
's lectures on Greenland
in 1892. He signed up to sail on the ship Miranda as surveyor and artist for Frederick Cook
's voyage to Greenland that next year. The voyage ended with the ship collided with an iceberg and the crew being rescued by Eskimos. Porter continued travel to the arctic with Peary and Greenland again in 1896, to Baffin Island
in 1897, with the Yukon gold rush in 1898, to Labrador
in 1899, and northern Greenland in 1900. Porter was a in charge of astronomical observations on the Ziegler Polar Expedition
s financed by New York businessman William Ziegler
in 1901 and 1903. The second expedition was stranded in the arctic for 3 years when their ship, the Steam Yacht AMERICA, was crushed by the ice and sank in Teplitz Bay off Rudolf Island
in the Russian arctic. In 1906 Porter again joined Frederick Cook in an expedition to Alaska’s Mount McKinley
. Porter’s party surveyed a 3000 square miles (7,770 km²) region around the mountain (including painting a watercolor of the mountain) while Cook’s party broke off to climb the mountain. When the parties rendezvoused, Porter was skeptical of Cook’s claims that he climbed the mountain.
where he tried to start an artists' colony at Land's End but failed, he built rental cottages, and tried farming. There he married Alice Marshall, the postmistress. Caroline, a daughter, was born in 1912. He also took up astronomy and the hobby of telescope making. He was encouraged by his good friend back in Springfield, fellow amateur astronomer and telescope builder James Hartness
. In 1913, Hartness sent Porter some telescope building ideas and literature along with two 16-inch-diameter glass blanks. Porter used these to build 16 inches (406.4 mm) "polar reflector" that he incorporated into the roof of a den he added on to his house in a design that allowed him to observe the sky from indoor heated comfort during long Maine winters. Porter wrote an article about his design for the May 1916 issue of Popular Astronomy
. Also in 1913, using field stones from walls that crisscrossed Land's End Porter and one other man built his stone guesthouse in the style of a castle complete with a circular room and square tower calling it Fieldstone Castle.
In 1915, Porter returned to MIT as a professor of architecture. He worked for the National Bureau of Standards producing prisms and experimenting with the silvering of mirrors during World War I.
Porter moved back to Springfield, Vermont in 1919 to work at the Jones & Lamson Machine Company, of which James Hartness was president. There he helped Hartness to produce an optical comparator
, an instrument for accurately checking the pitch, form, and lead of screw threads.
s. The members of this small group decided to form an astronomical club and December 7, 1923 was the first meeting of the Springfield Telescope Makers. Soon after, they built a clubhouse on a 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) plot belonging to Porter on Breezy Hill outside of town. They called the clubhouse Stellafane
, Latin for shrine to the stars. The Springfield Telescope Makers invited other groups of stargazers to their clubhouse in 1926, to compare telescopes and exchange ideas. From this small meeting was born the annual event called “Stellafane”, an event that goes on to this day.
In 1925 Albert G. Ingalls
featured Porter and the Springfield Telescope Makers in two articles he wrote for Scientific American
magazine. The articles contained a great deal of material and illustrations contributed by Porter. There was so much public interest, a regular column, "The Back Yard Astronomer" (later to become The Amateur Scientist
column) was started by Ingalls with Porter being a contributing editor. Much of the information from the articles published by Ingalls and Scientific American in the books Amateur Telescope Making
(Vols. 1-3), a work that has been referred to as "the bible of telescope making", helped to create lasting public interest in observational astronomy.
In 1927, at Ingalls suggestion, George Ellery Hale
recruited Porter to work on the design of what was then to be the largest telescope on earth, the 200 inches (5,080 mm) Mt. Palomar telescope. Porter moved to Pasadena in December 1928 to work as an associate in optics and instrument design. During the conceptual development of the telescope Porter produced extremely detailed cutaway drawings that were noted for their precision and beauty. Porter's designs were vital to success of the large telescope, which was completed in 1948.
Russell W. Porter died in 1949 of a heart attack at the age of 77. The crater
Porter
on the Moon and the crater Porter
on Mars
are named in his honor.
Art - illustrations
Miscellaneous
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, amateur astronomer
Amateur astronomy
Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...
and explorer. He was a pioneer in the field of “cutaway illustration" and is sometimes referred to as the "founder" or one of the "founders" of amateur telescope making
Amateur telescope making
Amateur telescope making is the activity of building telescopes as a hobby, as opposed to being a paid professional. Amateur telescope makers build their instruments for personal enjoyment of a technical challenge, as a way to obtain an inexpensive or personally customized telescope, or as a...
."
Biography
Russell W. Porter, the youngest of five children, was born in 1871 Springfield, VermontSpringfield, Vermont
Springfield is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 9,373 at the 2010 census.-History:One of the New Hampshire grants, the township was chartered on August 20, 1761 by Governor Benning Wentworth and awarded to Gideon Lyman and 61 others...
. His parents were Frederick and Caroline Porter. Russell showed an early aptitude for art. He graduated from Vermont Academy
Vermont Academy
Vermont Academy is an American coeducational boarding/day school and college preparatory school for grades nine through twelve and also offers acceptance for students seeking a post-graduate year. Founded in 1876, it is located in Saxtons River, Vermont. The school is coeducational, and...
in 1891 and went on to study engineering at Norwich University
Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...
and at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
and later studied architecture and art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
.
Arctic exploration
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
when he attended Robert Peary
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
's lectures on Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in 1892. He signed up to sail on the ship Miranda as surveyor and artist for Frederick Cook
Frederick Cook
Frederick Albert Cook was an American explorer and physician, noted for his claim of having reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. This would have been a year before April 6, 1909, the date claimed by Robert Peary....
's voyage to Greenland that next year. The voyage ended with the ship collided with an iceberg and the crew being rescued by Eskimos. Porter continued travel to the arctic with Peary and Greenland again in 1896, to Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
in 1897, with the Yukon gold rush in 1898, to Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
in 1899, and northern Greenland in 1900. Porter was a in charge of astronomical observations on the Ziegler Polar Expedition
Ziegler Polar Expedition
The Ziegler polar expedition of 1903–1905 was a failed attempt to reach the North Pole. The party remained stranded north of the Arctic Circle for two years before being rescued, yet all but one of its members survived. The expedition, funded by William Ziegler and led by Anthony Fiala, departed...
s financed by New York businessman William Ziegler
William Ziegler
William Ziegler was an American industrialist who was one of the founders of the Royal Baking Powder Company. He ended up suing his partners in a bitter legal battle. His other interests were organizing Arctic expeditions and yachting.-Biography:He was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, of...
in 1901 and 1903. The second expedition was stranded in the arctic for 3 years when their ship, the Steam Yacht AMERICA, was crushed by the ice and sank in Teplitz Bay off Rudolf Island
Rudolf Island
Prince Rudolf Land, Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Prince Rudolf Island or Rudolf Island is the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia. The island was named by the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition in honor of Archduke Rudolf , Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia...
in the Russian arctic. In 1906 Porter again joined Frederick Cook in an expedition to Alaska’s Mount McKinley
Mount McKinley
Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.- Geology and features :Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton...
. Porter’s party surveyed a 3000 square miles (7,770 km²) region around the mountain (including painting a watercolor of the mountain) while Cook’s party broke off to climb the mountain. When the parties rendezvoused, Porter was skeptical of Cook’s claims that he climbed the mountain.
Port Clyde, Maine years
After his arctic adventures, Porter settled down in Port Clyde, MainePort Clyde, Maine
Port Clyde is the southernmost settlement on the St. George peninsula in central/coastal Maine and part of the town of St. George in Knox County, Maine, United States....
where he tried to start an artists' colony at Land's End but failed, he built rental cottages, and tried farming. There he married Alice Marshall, the postmistress. Caroline, a daughter, was born in 1912. He also took up astronomy and the hobby of telescope making. He was encouraged by his good friend back in Springfield, fellow amateur astronomer and telescope builder James Hartness
James Hartness
James Hartness was an American inventor; a mechanical engineer; an entrepreneur who mentored other inventors to develop their machine tool products and create a thriving industrial center in southeastern Vermont; an amateur astronomer who fostered the construction of telescopes by amateurs in his...
. In 1913, Hartness sent Porter some telescope building ideas and literature along with two 16-inch-diameter glass blanks. Porter used these to build 16 inches (406.4 mm) "polar reflector" that he incorporated into the roof of a den he added on to his house in a design that allowed him to observe the sky from indoor heated comfort during long Maine winters. Porter wrote an article about his design for the May 1916 issue of Popular Astronomy
Popular Astronomy (US magazine)
Popular Astronomy was a magazine for amateur astronomers published between 1893 and 1951. It was the successor to The Sidereal Messenger, which ceased publication in 1892. Each yearly volume of Popular Astronomy contained 10 issues, for a total of 59 volumes.The first editor, from 1893-1911, was...
. Also in 1913, using field stones from walls that crisscrossed Land's End Porter and one other man built his stone guesthouse in the style of a castle complete with a circular room and square tower calling it Fieldstone Castle.
In 1915, Porter returned to MIT as a professor of architecture. He worked for the National Bureau of Standards producing prisms and experimenting with the silvering of mirrors during World War I.
Springfield and Stellafane
Optical comparator
An optical comparator is a device that applies the principles of optics to the inspection of manufactured parts...
, an instrument for accurately checking the pitch, form, and lead of screw threads.
Springfield Telescope Makers
In August 1920, with the help of Hartness, Porter started a class on how to make telescopes. Fifteen people signed up for that class; 14 men, most of whom were workers from Jones & Lamson, and one woman, a school teacher. Porter showed them how to make Newtonian reflectors, teaching all the aspects of mirror making including grinding, polishing, and testing their own mirrors, and designing and constructing telescope mountTelescope mount
A telescope mount is a mechanical structure which supports a telescope. Telescope mounts are designed to support the mass of the telescope and allow for accurate pointing of the instrument...
s. The members of this small group decided to form an astronomical club and December 7, 1923 was the first meeting of the Springfield Telescope Makers. Soon after, they built a clubhouse on a 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) plot belonging to Porter on Breezy Hill outside of town. They called the clubhouse Stellafane
Stellafane
Stellafane is the name of the clubhouse built by the Springfield Telescope Makers club of Springfield, Vermont in the early 1920s, and has since come to refer to the club's land and buildings on the summit of Breezy Hill...
, Latin for shrine to the stars. The Springfield Telescope Makers invited other groups of stargazers to their clubhouse in 1926, to compare telescopes and exchange ideas. From this small meeting was born the annual event called “Stellafane”, an event that goes on to this day.
In 1925 Albert G. Ingalls
Albert Graham Ingalls
Albert Graham Ingalls was an American scientific editor and amateur astronomer. Through his columns in Scientific American, including "The Amateur Scientist", and his three-volume series Amateur Telescope Making, Ingalls exerted a great influence on amateur astronomy and amateur telescope making...
featured Porter and the Springfield Telescope Makers in two articles he wrote for Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
magazine. The articles contained a great deal of material and illustrations contributed by Porter. There was so much public interest, a regular column, "The Back Yard Astronomer" (later to become The Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist was a column in the Scientific American, and was the definitive "how-to" resource for citizen-scientists for over 72 years , making it the longest running column in Scientific American's history...
column) was started by Ingalls with Porter being a contributing editor. Much of the information from the articles published by Ingalls and Scientific American in the books Amateur Telescope Making
Amateur Telescope Making
Amateur Telescope Making is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at Scientific American. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and observational technique, sometimes at quite an advanced level, but always in...
(Vols. 1-3), a work that has been referred to as "the bible of telescope making", helped to create lasting public interest in observational astronomy.
Mount Palomar
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
recruited Porter to work on the design of what was then to be the largest telescope on earth, the 200 inches (5,080 mm) Mt. Palomar telescope. Porter moved to Pasadena in December 1928 to work as an associate in optics and instrument design. During the conceptual development of the telescope Porter produced extremely detailed cutaway drawings that were noted for their precision and beauty. Porter's designs were vital to success of the large telescope, which was completed in 1948.
Russell W. Porter died in 1949 of a heart attack at the age of 77. The crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
Porter
Porter (lunar crater)
Porter is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern part of the Moon, and lies across the northwestern rim of the huge walled plain Clavius. Although generally circular, the form of this crater has been modified by the geometry of the surface on which it was formed. The outer rim is...
on the Moon and the crater Porter
Porter (Martian crater)
Porter is a large-scale impact crater in the Thaumasia quadrangle on the planet Mars, situated in Aonia Terra at 50.8° south and 113.9º west. The impact caused a bowl across. The name was chosen in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union in honour of the US astronomer and explorer, Russell W....
on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
are named in his honor.
See also
- Stellafane ObservatoryStellafane ObservatoryStellafane Observatory is an astronomical observatory built and maintained by the Springfield Telescope Makers Inc., an amateur astronomical club of about 100 members. The club was founded by Russell W. Porter had its first meeting on December 7, 1923...
- Griffith ObservatoryGriffith ObservatoryGriffith Observatory is in Los Angeles, California, United States. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest...
, designed by Russell W. Porter - John M. PierceJohn M. PierceJohn M. Pierce was an American teacher and amateur astronomer.Pierce worked with Russell W. Porter to organize Stellafane, the observatory near Springfield, Vermont where amateur telescope makers still meet annually for the Stellafane convention...
External links and references
Biographies- the legacy of the cutaway man Russell Porter bio at memagazine.org
- Willard,Berton C.(1976). Russell W. Porter Arctic Explorer Artist Telescope Maker,p105. The Bond Wheelwright Company, Freeport, Maine.ISBN 0-87027-168-7
- Russell W. Porter - Short biography
- The Telescope Makers of Springfield, Vermont A 1923 article by Porter
- A Brief History of Stellafane by Bert Willard
Art - illustrations
- The National Archives - The Arctic Sketches of Russell W. Porter
- Russell W. Porter Mt. Palomar drawings
- Masters of Cutaway Illustration - Russell W. Porter (1871-1949) Cutaway Drawings, by Kevin Hulsey
Miscellaneous