From polar explorer to gifted innovator: Russell W. Porter
At the dawn of the 20th Century, arctic expeditions and the quest to reach the north pole were the Apollo moonshots of the day. After attending lectures by famed arctic explorer Robert Peary in 1892, a young man named Russell W. Porter joined up with Frederick Cook’s Greenland voyage as surveyor and artist. Porter’s travels throughout the arctic were fraught with peril. Along with his crew mates on the Ziegler Polar Expedition, he was marooned for 3 years when the expedition’s ship America was crushed by ice near Rudolf Island.
Born on December 13th 1871, Russell W. Porter was the youngest of five children raised by Caroline and Fredrick Porter of Springfield, Vermont. At an early age, his drawing ability revealed a high level of artistic talent. Later, he went on to college in Vermont and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he gained a formal education centered on engineering and architecture.
Following his arctic travel, Porter returned to New England and worked on several ventures including real estate and farming in coastal Maine. Although his business dealings struggled, Porter was successful in finding a wife and starting a family. On Thanksgiving day 1907, he married Alice Marshall. In 1912, the couple celebrated the arrival of their daughter, Caroline.
After reading an article in Popular Astronomy magazine, Porter built several home-made telescopes. His technical background combined with artistic skill allowed him to envision innovative and novel designs. Maine’s long harsh winters encouraged him to build an observatory attached to his house. Inside he installed a polar reflecting telescope permitting him to scan the heavens from the comfort of an enclosed, heated space.
After a brief stint at MIT as professor of architecture, Porter returned Springfield, Vermont in 1919 and began a collaboration with long-time friend and fellow amateur astronomer, James Hartness. After leading workshops on crafting mirrors and telescope mounts, they decided to create an astronomy club. A house was built on land Porter owned near town and dubbed Stellafane – Latin for shrine to the stars. Guided by the enthusiasm and ‘can-do’ attitude of Porter and friends, Stellafane quickly became the hub of a pioneering movement in amateur telescope making.
During this time, Porter worked in the Optical division of the Bureau of Standards and submitted several articles to Popular Astronomy. One article featured a polar bearing with a horse-shoe ring design which could be used for a large telescope. His design caught the attention of George Ellery Hale, who was leading a project to build the world’s largest telescope atop Palomar Mountain.
Hale recruited Porter to the Palomar design team in 1928 making him Associate in Optics and Instrumental Design. Building a 200-inch telescope presented many challenges, but Porter’s ability to seamlessly move between the disciplines of surveying, engineering, art, and architecture made an invaluable contribution. He perfected a style of technical drawing for the telescope which simultaneously showed both the inner detail and external structure. This skill led to his nickname “the cutaway man”.
Porter’s illustrations of the 200-inch telescope, its mounting, drive, and structure were rich with detail including realistic modeling of light and shadow. The drawings were completed long before construction on the telescope and dome were finished. Upon seeing how well Porter was able to predict the actual appearance of Palomar, artist Maxfield Parrish said “to think that any artist had his pictorial imagination in such working order as to construct these pictures with no other mechanical data than blue prints of plans and elevation of the various intricate forms is simply beyond belief.“
When work on Palomar was suspended during World War Two, Porter’s talents shifted toward leading a nation-wide effort to make roof prisms for military gun sights. In his later years, he returned to Springfield and continued efforts to promote amateur telescope making at Stellafane.
At the age of 77, while working on a telescope project, he died of a heart attack. A true Renaissance man, Russell W. Porter possessed the uncanny ability to blend art and science in ways that continue to influence both professional and amateur astronomy.
