Email: Survey Officer
Astronomers
Associated People
Usherwood, William (1821-1915), a portrait, miniature painter and photographer based in Dorking (1860-1907). He is noted for being the first person to successfully photograph of a comet using a portrait lens – Comet Donati, 1858 (RAS 1859, 138-9; Pasachoff 1996).
Makers/Manufacturers
Cox, Hargreaves & Thomson Limited (1947-1978), a partnership between H.W. Cox, H.J. Hargreaves and J.V. Thomson to manufacture precision telescope optics. They used former garage premises in Coulsdon before moving into nearby chalk caverns that had been excavated as wartime air raid shelters. Makers of large telescopes they produced a 95 cm Schmidt Telescope for the Vatican Observatory and remounted the 30-inch Thompson Telescope at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. In 1962 senior opticians left the company to form Optical Services Limited (Obit., JBAA, 82 [1] (1971), 43-4).
Optical Services Limited [Optical Surfaces] (1962- ), formed to produce specialist scientific optics for space, astronomy and high energy physics uses. Based at Kenley they have established an international reputation supplying optics to NASA, ESA and CERN.
Survey of Astronomical History 