Natural Philosophy Collection

Short Telescope

1990 marked the 250^th anniversary of the oldest dated piece in the collection, a small Gregorian telescope by the doyen of mid-eighteenth century telescope makers, James Short FRS. The concept of the reflecting telescope was invented by James Gregory, one of Marischal College’s most distinguished 17^th century graduates. In spite of some technical limitations, the design became very popular in the 18^th century with observatories and with wealthy amateur patrons of the sciences. To supply this demand James Short migrated from his native Edinburgh to London in 1738 to become the first instrument maker to earn a good living by selling a single product. His specialisation became such that he was able to devote himself to grinding the primary and secondary mirrors of speculum metal, while contracting out the brass work to anonymous workshops elsewhere. Our own telescope of twelve-inch focal length and three-inch diameter is valuable as a relatively early example of his London work. It was purchased second-hand by Marischal College in 1769, in time to observe the rare astronomical phenomenon of the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun.

John S. Reid