CHARLES TYSON YERKES

Astronomer George Ellery Hale of the University of Chicago and the President of the University, William Rainey Harper, had solicited Yerkes to fund a new major telescope and observatory. Yerkes was not much interested in science, but Hale realized that he might be motivated to have his name on a very large telescope which would make him famous. That worked. The result was the 60 inch telescope—then the world’s largest.

Astronomer George Ellery Hale of the University of Chicago and the President of the University, William Rainey Harper, had solicited Yerkes to fund a new major telescope and observatory. Yerkes was not much interested in science, but Hale realized that he might be motivated to have his name on a very large telescope which would make him famous. That worked. The result was the 60 inch telescope—then the world’s largest.