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Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology
- 1608 - Hans Lippershey tries to patent an optical refracting telescope
- 1609 - Galileo Galilei builds his first optical refracting telescope
- 1641 - William Gascoigne invents telescope cross hairs
- 1661 - James Gregory proposes an optical reflecting telescope
- 1668 - Isaac Newton constructs the first optical reflecting telescope
- 1733 - Chester Moor Hall invents the achromatic lens refracting telescope
- 1758 - John Dolland reinvents the achromatic lens
- 1789 - William Herschel finishes a 49-inch optical reflecting telescope---located in Slough, England
- 1840 - J.W. Draper invents astronomical photography and photographs the Moon
- 1845 - Lord Rosse finishes the Birr Castle 72-inch optical reflecting telescope---located in Parsonstown, Ireland
- 1872 - Henry Draper invents astronomical spectral photography and photographs the spectrum of Vega
- 1890 - Albert Michelson proposes the stellar interferometer
- 1892 - George Hale finishes a spectroheliograph---allows the Sun to be photographed in the light of one element only
- 1897 - Alvan Clark finishes the Yerkes 40-inch optical refracting telescope---located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin
- 1917 - Mount Wilson 100-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Mount Wilson, California
- 1930 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the coronagraph
- 1930 - Karl Jansky builds a 30-meter long rotating aerial radio telescope
- 1933 - Bernard-Ferdinand Lyot invents the Lyot filter
- 1934 - Bernhard Schmidt finishes the first 14-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope
- 1936 - Palomar 18-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Palomar, California
- 1937 - Grote Reber builds a 31-foot radio telescope
- 1947 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 218-foot non-steerable radio telescope
- 1949 - Palomar 48-inch Schmidt optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Palomar, California
- 1949 - Palomar 200-inch optical reflecting telescope begins regular operation---located in Palomar, California
- 1957 - Bernard Lovell and his group complete the Jodrell Bank 250-foot steerable radio telescope
- 1957 - Peter Scheuer publishes his PhD method for obtaining source counts of spatially unresolved sources
- 1960 - Martin Ryle tests Earth rotation aperature synthesis
- 1960 - Owens Valley 27-meter radio telescopes begin operation---located in Big Pine, California
- 1962 - European Southern Observatory (ESO) founded
- 1963 - Arecibo 300-meter radio telescope begins operation---located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico
- 1964 - Ryle 1-mile radio interferometer begins operation---located in Cambridge, England
- 1965 - Owens Valley 40-meter radio telescope begins operation---located in Big Pine, California
- 1967 - First VLBI images---183 km baseline
- 1969 - Observations start at Big Bear Solar Observatory---located in Big Bear, California
- 1970 - Cerro Tololo 158-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Cerro Tololo, Chile
- 1970 - Kitt Peak National Observatory 158-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located near Tucson, Arizona
- 1974 - Anglo-Australian 153-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Siding Springs, Australia
- 1975 - Gerald Smith, Frederick Landauer, and James Janesick use a CCD to observe Uranus---first astronomical CCD observation
- 1978 - Multiple Mirror 176-inch equivalent optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation---located in Amado, Arizona
- 1979 - UKIRT 150-inch infrared reflecting telescope begins operation---located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- 1979 - Canada-France-Hawaii 140-inch optical reflecting telescope begins operation---located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- 1980 - Completion of construction of the VLA---located in Socorro, New Mexico
- 1993 - Keck 10-meter optical/infrared reflecting telescope begins operation---located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- 1997 - The Japanese Halca satellite begins operations, producing first VLBI observations from space. --- 25000 km maximum baseline
- 1998 - First light at VLT1, the 8.2 m ESO telescope.
- 2001 - First light at VLTI. Operations in the interferometry mode of VLT start at ESO --- 103 m baseline