The creation of the Anglo-Australian observatory /

This official history of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, with its major 3.9 meter Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) begun in the 1950s and completed in 1974 is a fascinating account of the events and discussions that led to the establishment of one of the best observatories in the world. The teaming of interests to provide state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation for observers on opposite sides of the earth was often acrimonious, pitting the Australians against the British, the Australian National University against other local interests, and individuals against individuals. This is the well-researched detail of the debates about how the observatory would be run, how autonomous it would be, how observing time for locals and visitors would be allocated, where the instrumentation and maintenance groups would be located. The debates thus involved technical, scientific, political, and administrative issues--all of which had to be solved before the observatory could be successfully built and operated. Taking seven years to complete and costing $16 million, the centerpiece of the observatory, the AAT, was driven by the success of the Australian radio astronomers and the necessity to pursue their results with a large optical telescope. The test is easy to read; pictures are small but clear. There are good bibliographies and indexes of names and subjects, and 36 pages of appendixes: agreements, biographies, telescope statistics, and texts of speeches. Recommended for large academic library collections in astronomy. -W. E. Howard III, Space and Strategic Technologies, U.S. Army