History of Spectrohelioscopes by Amateurs

                  Fredrick N. Veio, 2002

Dr. G.E.Hale invented the spectrohelioscope about 1924. He used long

focal length optics:

   telescope 5.4 meters f.l. (18 feet)

   spectroscope two mirrors 4.0 meters f.l. (13 feet)

   2x3 inch grating (50x76mm) 600 gr/mm

   straight line design with two mirror coelostat

   Anderson prisms or oscillating slits for synthesizer

In the past the limiting factor for amateurs was that the gratings were

originals and were very expensive. A few amateurs were lucky to have an

original grating loaned to them. Below the mention of medium focal

length optics is the telescope about 2.7 meters f.l. (9 feet) and the

spectroscope about one to two meters f.l. (latter about 79 inches).

1924, Dr. G.E. Hale, first spectrohelioscope in the world.

1938, F. J. Sellers, England, long f.l. optics.

1940, Rev. M. A. Ellison, England, long f.l. optics.

1957, Bausch and Lomb, USA, high quality replica gratings   commercially available, 90% theoretical resolution. Later known as Richardson Grating Laboratory then Thermo RGL

1963, high quality replica holographic gratings available.

1958, B. C. Parmenter, Washington, USA,long f.l. optics.

1959, W.J. Semerau, New York USA, medium f.l. then long f.l.

1962, Malcolm M. Maner, Florida, USA, long f.l. optics.

1962, Fredrick N. Veio, Calif., USA, medium f.l., portable.

1966, Harold Hill, England, long f.l. optics.

1970, Jean Nicolini, Brazil, long f.l. optics.

1970, Cesare Greco, Genoa, Italy, long f.l. optics.

1971, Br.Theodore van Poecke,Huybergen, Netherlands, medium f.l.

1971, Dr. Donald Mruk, Mass., USA, medium f.l. optics, portable.

1972, Randy Shivak, Ohio, USA, medium then long f.l. optics.

1975, Achim Gruenberg, near Dresden, Germany, long f.l. optics.

1975, Ulrich Fritz, near Stuttgart, Germany, translated Fred Veio's SHS book of 60 pages into German.

1975, Brian G. Manning, Worcest., England, medium f.l. optics.

1975, Toshio Ohnishi, Kawanishi, Japan, medium f.l. optics.

1975, Prof. Wolfgang Woess,Linz, Austria, medium f.l. optics.

1976, Janos Papp, Budapest, Hungary, medium f.l. optics.

1977, Jeff Simsovic, NM, USA, long f.l. optics.

1979, Klaas Honders, Netherlands, medium f.l. optics.

1980, Heinrich W. Beeker,near Mainz, Germany,medium f.l. optics.

1980, Johnny "Mike" Rushford, Calif., USA, medium f.l. optics.

1980, Walter Piorkowski, Illinois, USA, medium f.l. optics.

1980, Maurice Gavin, Surrey, England, medium f.l. optics.

1981, Dr. H. R. Soper, Isle of Man, England, long f.l. optics.

1982, Jeffery Young, Calif., USA, medium f.l. optics.

1985, Henry R. Hatfield, Kent, England, long f.l. optics.

1998, Philippe Rousselle, Metz, France, medium f.l. optics.

1990, Dr. Otto J. Lieder, Hildesheim,Germany, medium f.l. optics

1990, Michael Hill, Mass., USA, medium f.l. optics.

1992, Vittorio Lovato, Voghera, Italy, medium f.l. optics.

1992, Rogerio Marcon, Campinas, Brazil, long f.l. optics.

1994, Gote Flodqvist, Farsa, Sweden, medium f.l. optics.

1995, Pierre Barthelemy, le Pin, France, medium f.l. optics.

1996, Ken Florentino, Colorado  USA, medium f.l. optics

1997, Kurt Tiede, Ludwigsau, Germany, medium f.l. optics.

1998, Leonard Higgins, Calif., USA, medium f.l. optics.

2002, Jonathan Slaton, USA, long f.l. optics.

2002, David Groski, Delaware, USA, medium f.l. optics.

2002, Jon Slaton bought long f.l. achromats and long f.l. mirrors. He had a building contstucted to house the optics in a straight line.