Date in year · 1949 · The 1940s

January 26, 1949

On January 26, 1949, the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). Spencer Haywood, Tommy Mottola, Holly Near would arrive in the same year.

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1949

1940s

Around 1949

The year in brief

1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1949th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 949th year of the 2nd millennium, the 49th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1940s decade.

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What happened

On January 26, 1949

  1. 1949 The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).

    Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, USA

    3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, US, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1928, he orchestrated the planning, design, and construction of the observatory, but with the project ending up taking 20 years he did not live to see its commissioning. The Hale was groundbreaking for its time, with double the diameter of the second-largest telescope, and pioneered many new technologies in telescope mount design and in the design and fabrication of its large aluminum coated "honeycomb" low thermal expansion Pyrex mirror.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1949

The class of 1949

Others born in 1949

Spencer Haywood 1949– American basketball player
Tommy Mottola 1949– American businessman and music publisher
Holly Near 1949– American folk singer and songwriter
Emanuel Ax 1949– Polish-American pianist and educator
Hildegard Falck 1949– German runner
Billy Joel 1949– American singer-songwriter and pianist

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