Hello Friend,

    One of the greatest influences in the hobby of amateur astronomy was  John Dobson.

He died on January 15th at the grand old age of  98.

It was a real pleasure to have met John Dobson, at the annual Stellafane (telescope builders convention)
held in Vermont, USA several years ago.

He was a very down to earth fellow.

    Dobson, was one of the original founders of the Sidewalk astronomers, in the 1970's in San Francisco.

He and his buddies would set up telescopes on the Sidewalks, and invite passerby  to look througby h them and
get a glimpse of the Moon or Planets.  

As a young man, Dobson was an ardent atheist.   He obtained a Masters degree in chemistry, and worked at
the labs in Berkeley University, in California.

     One evening, he visited a lecture by a Swami from the Vedanta society.  (note: these things tend to happen
if you attend Berkeley.....), and then joined the society, and become a monk.

He had a fascinating opportunity to reconcile the teachings of astronomy with the religious teachings of the society.

   One of the ways he did this was by building simple astronomical telescopes (essentially a tube within a box, that rotated)
and thus was the start of  what became known as the Dobsonian telescope revolution.

Amateur astronomers, the world over, started building these simple instruments themselves, and a few commercial
manufacturers (Coulter telescopes was one), started to sell these instruments either as kits or completely assembled.

         And the world of amateur astronomy would never  look back.

Sadly, Dobson was   booted out of the Vedantan order, as a result of a misunderstanding by the head Swami,
"Swami whatisname". who might have been related to "The Great Carnak" of Johnny Carson fame.....I'm not really sure on that
one :)

John then continued to teach members of the public on how to build their own telescopes, and eventually ended up
teaching a course at the Southern California Vedanta society,  also on how to build a dobsonian telescope.

Dobson, was invited as a speaker, and travelled to many events over the past years.

His profound influence on this hobby will remain always, and John, you will truly be missed.

"In dobs we trust"

Ray Khan