Bardou Refracting Telescope
- Description
- Maison Bardou, for many years a leading manufacturer of small telescopes for education and recreation, was established in Paris in 1818. The firm displayed their wares at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.
- This telescope has a brass tube assembly marked "A. BARDOU PARIS," an objective lens of 3½ inch aperture and 52 inch focus, and a wooden tripod. The signature indicates that it was made around between 1878 and 1895. James W. Queen & Co., the leading purveyor of scientific instruments in the United States, offered similar instruments for $175.
- Everett Harrington Hurlburt, later to become a professional astronomer and physicist, received this from his father in the early 1920s. He continued to use it throughout his life, particularly for viewing solar eclipses.
- Ref: James W. Queen & Co., Astronomical Telescopes (Philadelphia, 1889).
- The Telescopes of Bardou & Son (New York, 1911).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Bardou
- place made
- France: Île-de-France, Paris
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 9 1/4 in x 5 19/32 in x 54 1/2 in; 23.495 cm x 14.224 cm x 138.43 cm
- ID Number
- 1988.0636.01
- catalog number
- 88.636.1
- accession number
- 1988.0636
- Credit Line
- Mrs. Everett Hurlburt
- subject
- Astronomy
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Science & Mathematics
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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