Customer Reviews

The Journey to Palomar

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having seen this film 3 times now (most recently at a screening in the dome that houses his final creation, the 200" Hale Telescope) I am glad to finally be able to add it to my collection!

Journey to Palomar takes us along on the journey that was the life of George Ellery Hale. From a small boy up through the building of four of the worlds largest telescopes. The film makers also included some awesome information about the future of large telescopes. Thanks to Hale, we have a better understanding of the universe around us.

I consider this film a must see for anyone interested in Astronomy, and a great starting point for the rest of us. It shows us that one person through drive and determination can make a difference.

This is a beautiful documentary that tells a compelling story about how some very American traits -- individualism, salesmanship, sensationalism, competition, even greed -- became the basis for one of mankind's greatest scientific achievements, mapping the universe.

George Ellery Hale was born to privilege, but in Chicago, where even the wealthy and influential need a combination of sharp elbows and charm to get ahead. He applied what he learned in order to get support for the Yerkes Observatory from a dastardly streetcar tycoon, for Mt. Wilson from the ultimate captain of industry, Andrew Carnegie, and finally, for Mt. Palomar from the heirs of Rockefeller.

That Hale was driven by a passion for science, not personal wealth or glory, makes the story more fascinating. The man literally ran himself ragged in his quest to build telescopes that first proved and then added to Einstein's theories, eventually suffering from stress-induced hallucinations. As is said in the film, Hale had "the American disease" -- a nervous breakdown caused by ambition and overachievement.

At various points, there were serious doubts about the viability of Hale's ideas. The sequence at the Corning glass factory, illustrated by some amazing archival footage, is a good example. It was unknown whether glassmakers could produce a mirror of the size and perfection that would be needed to make the telescope work. The sequences demonstrates American ingenuity, but also shows the high degree of frustration and disappointment that must be tolerated along the way toward an engineering breakthrough.

The film effortlessly shifts between the drama of how the telescopes got built and what they taught us. At the end of the film, the filmmakers show us all of the scientific milestones that Mt. Palomar enabled, most of them long after Hale's death, proving that it is possible to get teary-eyed at recitation of facts about the cosmos.

George Hale's name is not one that most Americans think of when they think of the most important contributors to science to come from our shores. "The Journey to Palomar" should go a long way toward correcting that omission. Hale was one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century, and this film finally gives him his due in the motion-picture format.

This documentary is just brilliant! What George Hale did for astronomy is mind boggling. I urge all of you reading this not to miss this enoromously important film. There is a book too, it's called The Perfect Machine by Ronald Florence.

I had the opportunity to see this documentary presented in its near final cut at Caltech in the presence of most of the living members of the Hale family. It's an excellent effort, and well worth watching for anyone interested in telescopes or the history of astronomy. Also a good choice for inspiring a child interested in astronomy or engineering.

For nearly a century (93 years by my count) the largest productive astronomical telescope in the world was one of Hale's creations. (The Yerkes 40", the 60" and 100" on Mt. Wilson, and the 200" Palomar telescope, named after Hale.) He also established the the Yerkes, Mt. Wilson, and Palomar Mountain observatories, co-founded the Astrophysical Journal, was instrumental in creating the modern Caltech, created the greatest solar telescopes of his time, invented the spectroheliograph, and conducted research in solar astronomy. This documentary is good introduction to the amazing man Hale was, and the unprecedented accomplishment the "Hale Telescope" represented.

A documentary can't, of course, give you the depth of information that a good book can. If this DVD whets you appetite for more, turn to "The Perfect Machine" by Ronald Florence for more about the 200" scope, or "Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale" by Helen Wright (sadly out of print, but available used) for more about the remarkable man.

This DVD is a must for anyone teaching Astronomy and the history of US observational Astronomy weather as a Home-schooler or in a classroom .It presents the Stories of the Palomar and the Yerkes Telescopes and George Ellery Hales obsession with building larger and better Telescopes in order to push forward Mankind's Knowledge of the Universe in a clear manner. As with all PBS Home Video's it's good value for money and a valuable addition to a home or school collection

I am an amatuer astronomer and just loved the history of Palomar Observatory (actually worked with the 18" and even touch the 200"). You really get a sense of what it took to complete such a hugh endeavor back then. Hale was a wonderful man. Also have the book 'The Perfect Machine' about building the 200". Would like to see other stories about Lick, Mt. Wilson, Yerkes, etc. Turn of the Century Astronomy, got to love it. Thanks

This story tells of George Ellery Hale and his epic struggles to build
the 40",100", and the 200" telescopes.
Hale also had to battle mental illness and he was truly heroic as
he never gave up!
The focus of the story is the great 200" telescope on Palomar.
The Hale telescope is still a cutting edge instrument after 60
years and I found that it is at least 100 times more powerful
than when it was first built due to the support technology built
for it bt Cal-tech.
This is my all time favorite science special. Watch it and enjoy!

This show attempts to do three things at once, be a biography of George Hale, explain astronomy, and document the creation of three large telescopes (Yerkes, Wilson, Palomar).

Let's start with the bad news. The biography of Hale is so sketchy you'll be running to Wikipedia to make sense of it. It starts with Hale as a 12-yr old watching Chicago burn. In the next scene he's having his father build him a major observatory. Ummm, did he go to college somewhere? Was his father rich? No clues here. Later his wife appears for a quote or two but is otherwise ignored. He speaks fluently about the arts and Italian art to the wife of one of his backers... when did he have an interest in that? No clue here about that either.

As for the second thread, the narration attempts to justify the creation of these ground-breaking new telescopes by giving very brief descriptions about what astronomers wanted them for. Unfortunately there's way too much 20-20 hindsight and these diversions make no sense either.

The show's real strength is in the raw history of the telescopes themselves. They seem to have found a mother lode of wonderful photographs showing many under construction photos of the telescopes.

So if you're interested in telescopes, this DVD is 5-stars. As entertainment, it's somewhat annoying due to the many gaps in the story line.

I gave this Documentary video a four star instead of three because the film and photography this great story are so valuable. The video itself tries to be professional and artistic; but, in my opinion, I find its effort to a labor of love, which certainly shows the film makers belief that what they are doing is presenting a film of a very special story, to not quite measure up to the greatness of George Hale for certain. They try to be literary and theatrical such as the Pasedena intellectual women; and then, what perhaps really irks me is their effort to show feeling in Geoge Hales death scence; the narrator says, and Geoge Hale was dead. Why couldn't they at least say, "Georg Hale past away . . . 'in some poetic way". I appreciate they're efforts, and I believe they had great intensions and love the story and the man and all; but, they're artistic not to mention technical knowledge just doesn't measure up.

Getting on to the technical aspects . . . to say the least, they only did so much there as well. They hinted perhaps pretty well at how much the making of Mount Wilson, really, much less Mount Palomar did for the making of silicon valley and Pasadena and Caltech. But, they could have pointed out so much more about all the optics industry the making of those telescopes contributed. It's a great lesson on why we should pursue pure science! As for the science and technology of Hales telescopes, I think they could have done more there as well.

I want to mention some of the authors of various books about the Palomar telescope; i havn't read their books! I have read 'The Glass Giant of Palomar" which seems to me the start of a certain genre of science writing such as James Gliek's "Chaos" and "The Second Creation" amongst others. I think I know why 'The Glass Giant' is basically being put out of circulation and why some others have decided to make some new books about those telescopes and their history; there's a couple of 'black marks' towards the end; i'm thinking pretty much only two sentences; i'd like to note that 1)I don't see them as hatefull rascist; but 2) they were definitelly rather insensitive remarks; and, in a book about George Hale and his telescope making, they are definitelly out of place. I think I'm remarking about this because, 1) i think it should be said somewhere, and 2) I, after reading it before I discoverdd this video would hold this video as the standard that the video should have tries to reach; but, it does not(the other 99% of the book). To say the least, the book is better than the video, as usual; all in all, the video is a great collection of footage and photos. I guess the extra videos about astronomical observatories of the future can kind of push the video into the four star region!