Russell W. Porter, arctic explorer, artist, telescope maker

Russell W. Porter, arctic explorer, artist, telescope maker by Willard, Berton C.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780870271687.

"Arctic explorer, artist, and telescope maker Russell Porter was the cofounder of the amateur telescope making movement in the United States and architectural draftsman of the 200-in. Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain. Porter studied civil engineering at the University of Vermont and architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] but abandoned his coursework to pursue arctic exploration under the influence of admiral Robert Peary. Porter served as surveyor, astronomer, and artist on the ill-fated Fiala-Ziegler Expedition that failed to reach the North Pole (1903–1905). He also surveyed and mapped Mount McKinley in Alaska, but did not reach its summit. Following these adventures, Porter temporarily settled at Port Clyde, Maine, where he married Alice Belle (1907); the couple had two children. There, he constructed his first telescopes and observatories, employing new optical and ..."