This article is about John L. Dobson, the amateur astronomer. For other men with a similar name, see John Dobson

John Dobson

John Dobson may refer to:* John Dobson , British architect* John Dobson , popularizer of astronomy* John Dobson , Canadian senator* John Dobson , Northern Irish politician...

.

John Lowry Dobson (born September 14, 1915) is a popularizer of amateur astronomy

Amateur astronomy

Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...

. He is most notable for being the promoter of a design for large, portable, low-cost Newtonian reflecting telescopes that bears his name, the Dobsonian telescope

Dobsonian telescope

A Dobsonian telescope is an alt-azimuth mounted newtonian telescope design popularized by the amateur astronomer John Dobson starting in the 1960s. Dobson's telescopes featured a simplified mechanical design that was easy to manufacture from readily available components to create a large, portable,...

. The design is considered revolutionary since it allowed amateur astronomers to build extremely large telescopes. He is less known for his efforts to promote awareness of astronomy (and his unorthodox views of cosmology

Cosmology

Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

) through public lectures including his performances of "sidewalk astronomy

Sidewalk astronomy

Sidewalk or Street Corner Astronomy refers to the activity of setting up a telescope in an urban setting on a for profit or non-profit basis as an entertainment or for public education.-Overview:...

." John Dobson is also the co-founder of the amateur astronomical group, the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers.

Early life

John Dobson was born in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. His maternal grandfather founded Peking University

Peking University

Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...

, his mother was a musician, and his father taught zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 at the University. He and his parents moved to San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 in 1927. His father accepted a teaching position at Lowell High School

Lowell High School (San Francisco)

Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco, California. The school opened in 1856 as the Union Grammar School and attained its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its current location in the Merced Manor neighborhood in 1962....

 and taught there until the 1950s. Dobson spent 23 years in a monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

, after which he became more active in promoting astronomy and his own nonstandard cosmology theories.

Dobson's time at the monastery

As a teen John Dobson became a “belligerent” atheist

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

. He said: “I could see that these two notions cannot arise in the same being: ‘do unto others as you would that they do unto’ and ‘if you're not a good boy, it's into hell for keeps.’… They must be spoofing us. So I became an atheist, a belligerent atheist. If anybody started a conversation about the subject, I was a belligerent atheist.”

Over time Dobson became interested in the universe

Universe

The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...

 and its workings. He earned a degree

Academic degree

An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...

 in chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 in 1943. In 1944 he attended a lecture by a Vedanta

Vedanta

Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...

n monk. Dobson said the monk “revealed to him a world he had never seen.” That same year Dobson joined the Vedanta Society

Vedanta Society

The Vedanta Society of Southern California, with its headquarters in Hollywood, was founded in 1930 by Swami Prabhavananda. The society is a branch of the Ramakrishna Order, and maintains subcenters in Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Trabuco Canyon...

 monastery in San Francisco, becoming a monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 of the Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna , born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay , was a famous mystic of 19th-century India. His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda – both were influential figures in the Bengali Renaissance as well as the Hindu...

 Order. “One of John's responsibilities at the monastery was to reconcile astronomy with the teachings of Vedanta. That job led him to build telescopes on the side. He took to wheeling them around outside the monastery, fascinating the neighbors who would congregate around him.”

Dobson’s interest in telescope building was in part to better understand the universe, and in part to inspire in others a curiosity about the cosmos. To this end, he often offered assistance and corresponded about his work with those outside the monastery. Telescope building was not part of the curriculum at the monastery, however, and much of his correspondence was written in code

Code

A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....

 so as to attract less attention. For instance, a telescope was referred to as a "geranium", which is a type of flower. A "potted geranium" referred to a telescope in a tube and rocker, while a "geranium in bloom" referred to a telescope whose mirror

Mirror

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...

 was now aluminized.

Eventually John Dobson was given the option of ceasing his telescope building or leaving the order. At the time he chose to stop building telescopes. But he was unable to abstain from telescope building and eventually resumed his activities on the sly: he would sneak off at night to help people build telescopes. His unauthorized leaves were noticed and Dobson was expelled in 1967.

Promotion of astronomy

Having left the order in 1967, Dobson co-founded the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers, an organization that aims to popularize astronomy among people on the street, along with Bruce Sams and Jeffery Roloff. Bruce had built a large telescope but because he was only 12 at the time he was not eligible for membership in the only local club, the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers, thus the "San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers" was born. It was also at this time that his simple form of telescope, which came to be known as the Dobsonian

Dobsonian telescope

A Dobsonian telescope is an alt-azimuth mounted newtonian telescope design popularized by the amateur astronomer John Dobson starting in the 1960s. Dobson's telescopes featured a simplified mechanical design that was easy to manufacture from readily available components to create a large, portable,...

, became well known after he started teaching classes to the public on how to make your own telescope.

He was later asked to speak at the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Hollywood, and has continued to spend two months there each year teaching telescope and cosmology classes. He spends two more months at his home in San Francisco, and spends most of the rest of each year travelling as an invited guest for astronomical societies, where he speaks about telescope building, sidewalk astronomy, and his views of cosmology and the scientific establishment.

In 2004, the Crater Lake Institute presented John Dobson with its Annual Award for Excellence in Public Service for pioneering sidewalk astronomy in the national parks and forests, "where curious minds and dark skies collide." In 2005, the Smithsonian magazine listed John Dobson as among 35 individuals who have made a major difference during the lifetime of that periodical.

The Dobsonian telescope

John Dobson designed a very simple, low cost alt-azimuth mount

Altazimuth mount

An altazimuth or alt-azimuth mount is a simple two-axis mount for supporting and rotating an instrument about two mutually perpendicular axes; one vertical and the other horizontal. Rotation about the vertical axis varies the azimuth of the pointing direction of the instrument...

ed Newtonian telescope

Newtonian telescope

The Newtonian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the British scientist Sir Isaac Newton , using a concave primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Newton’s first reflecting telescope was completed in 1668 and is the earliest known functional reflecting telescope...

 that employs common materials such as plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

, formica

Formica

Formica is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, or field ants. Formica is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae...

, PVC closet flange

Closet flange

In plumbing, a closet flange is a pipe fitting that both mounts a toilet to the floor and connects the toilet drain to a drain pipe. The name comes from the term "water closet", the traditional name for a toilet. A typical closet flange is composed of an ABS or PVC hub with a round steel...

s, cardboard construction tubes, recycled porthole glass, and indoor-outdoor carpet. This type of simplified Newtonian telescope and mount

Telescope mount

A telescope mount is a mechanical structure which supports a telescope. Telescope mounts are designed to support the mass of the telescope and allow for accurate pointing of the instrument...

 is popularly referred to as a Dobsonian telescope. Using this construction method makes the typical Dobsonian telescope large, portable, inexpensive, and easy to manufacture.

The design is named after Dobson because he is credited for being the first person to have combined all these construction techniques in a single telescope design. He is reluctant to take credit, however, pointing out that he built it that way because it was all he needed. In his own words, he jokes that he was "too retarded" to build a more sophisticated telescope with an equatorial telescope mount

Equatorial mount

An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that follows the rotation of the sky by having one rotational axis parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescopes and cameras...

. With its simplicity of construction and use, the Dobsonian has become a very popular design today, particularly for large amateur telescopes

Sidewalk astronomers

John Dobson co-founded the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers in coordination with two other people, having cheaply constructed several telescopes that were easy to use, including a 24 inches (609.6 mm) telescope that was built for approximately US$300. Rather than have regular meetings, the organization simply set up telescopes on the sidewalk during clear evenings, offering to show and explain the night sky to people passing by.

Unexpectedly, the Sidewalk Astronomers were invited to the Riverside Telescope Makers' meeting in 1969. The 24 inches (609.6 mm) Dobsonian telescope brought by the Sidewalk Astronomers was unconventional, because most telescopes at such meetings tended to be smaller, on equatorial mounts, and designed for astrophotography

Astrophotography

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography that entails recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photographs of an astronomical object were taken in the 1840s, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for...

 rather than optical viewing. Surprisingly and controversially at the time, Dobson's telescope tied in first prize for best optics. It was also awarded the runner up prize for mechanics, despite the mechanics of the telescope and its mount being relatively simple.

Sidewalk Astronomers has since become a prominent organization, recognized for its taking of astronomy to the public via "sidewalk astronomy

Sidewalk astronomy

Sidewalk or Street Corner Astronomy refers to the activity of setting up a telescope in an urban setting on a for profit or non-profit basis as an entertainment or for public education.-Overview:...

". The current organization has members throughout the world, and continues to promote public service astronomy by putting telescopes on street corners in urban areas. Members of the organization also visit national parks giving slide show presentations, providing telescope viewing, and explaining the universe.

Dobson's cosmology

Dobson often uses his speaking opportunities during sidewalk and other observing sessions, at astronomical societies, and in the media, to promote his own non-standard cosmology

Non-standard cosmology

A non-standard cosmology is any physical cosmological model of the universe that has been, or still is, proposed as an alternative to the big bang model of standard physical cosmology...

 theories, claiming the Big Bang model does not hold up to scrutiny. Dobson labels the Big Bang model as "fudge without walnuts". In “The Equations of Maya”, Dobson writes: “The Big Bang cosmologists want to get the Universe out of nothing. It’s like asking us to believe that nothing made everything out of nothing. But that’s not what shows in our physics.” He suggests that this model has become quite “tortured”, likening it to the Ptolemaic system. He cites the inconsistency of dark matter

Dark matter

In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly detected via optical or radio astronomy...

 that cannot be explained without resorting to what he considers increasingly complicated, unlikely, and unsupported theories. In essence, Dobson claims that physicists have been inventing new physics to match the Big Bang model, recently with a "mystery" called dark energy

Dark energy

In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...

. He is also a critic of an educational system which, he asserts, indoctrinates young scientists in the Big Bang model “without presenting any of the problems” with it. He challenges people to broaden their thinking and to think more critically.

Dobson advocates a “Recycling” Steady State

Steady State theory

In cosmology, the Steady State theory is a model developed in 1948 by Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi and others as an alternative to the Big Bang theory...

 model of the universe. His model draws on Einstein's

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

 assertion in general relativity

General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...

 that energy equals matter, and on Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Pauli exclusion principle

Pauli exclusion principle

The Pauli exclusion principle is the quantum mechanical principle that no two identical fermions may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. A more rigorous statement is that the total wave function for two identical fermions is anti-symmetric with respect to exchange of the particles...

 (aka "Pauli's Verbot"). He says that cosmologists have, in general, overlooked what is going on at the edge of the universe. Dobson claims that at the edge, we know a great deal about a particle’s momentum, so “by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, if our uncertainty in the momentum approaches zero, our uncertainty in where the particles are must approach infinity. The hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

 simply ‘tunnels’ back in.” Dobson contends that although matter in the universe is forever expanding outward, matter “recycles” over time in a way comparable with quantum tunneling. Entropy

Entropy

Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...

 therefore remains constant, because atoms rebuild their order as they recycle.

In “Origins” Dobson addresses the creation of life: “For a Big Bang cosmology, in which the early Universe was extremely hot, a discussion of the origin of life is of course appropriate, since life could not have been with us from the beginning. But for a Steady State model, in which the Universe is without beginning, perhaps life itself could be without beginning.” Dobson also points out the Pasteur-Darwin paradox: “Pasteur

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...

 thought that he had shown that life does not arise from non-living matter but only from previous life. Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 seems to have taken the other view, namely, that it might have arisen from ‘some warm pool’.”

Publications by John Dobson

Dobson authored the 1991 book How and Why to Make a User-Friendly Sidewalk Telescope (ISBN 0-913399-64-7) with editor Norman Sperling

Norman Sperling

Norman Sperling is an author, editor, publisher, teacher, and telescope designer living in San Mateo, California.Sperling received a BA from Michigan State University after graduating from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. He followed that with an MA in History of Science...

. This book helped popularize what came to be known as the Dobsonian mount, and treats the "why" as importantly as the "how". It covers Dobson's background and his philosophy on astronomy and the universe, and his belief in the importance of popular access to astronomy for proper appreciation of the universe. John Dobson is now in the process of publishing Beyond Space and Time (2004) and The Moon is New (2008).

John Dobson in the media

Dobson is one of the speakers in Universe: The Cosmology Quest, a documentary supporting non-standard cosmological points of view. His life and theories are also the subject of the 2005 documentary A Sidewalk Astronomer

A Sidewalk Astronomer

A Sidewalk Astronomer is a documentary film about former Vedanta monk and amateur astronomer John Dobson. The film follows Dobson to state parks, astronomy clubs, and downtown streets as he promotes awareness of astronomy through his on personal style of sidewalk astronomy...

. He was also featured in the PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 series The Astronomers, and has appeared twice on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

.

External links

• Sidewalk Astronomers – This website includes John Dobson's official schedule.
• The San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers
• John Dobson of The Sidewalk Astronomers – Papers and articles written by John Dobson
• Dobson Space Telescope
• A Sidewalk Astronomer A film about Astronomy, Cosmology and John Dobson
• “The Moon is New” John Dobson's recently published book
• “35 Who Made a Difference: John Dobson” by Don Moser, Smithsonian (November 2005)
• “John Lowery Dobson Oral History Interview” Crater Lake Institute, 2004
• John Dobson honored by Crater Lake Institute for public service