Background

John Alfred Brashear was born on November 24, 1840 Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He belonged to a family of French Huguenots named Brasseuir who emigrated to America and settled in Calvert County, Maryland, in 1658.

In 1775 a descendant of this family, Otho Brashear (the original Brasseuir had undergone several changes in spelling), emigrated from Maryland to the present site of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Here his grandson, Basil Brown Brashear, a saddler by trade, married a schoolteacher, the daughter of one Nathaniel Smith, who had emigrated to Brownsville probably from Massachusetts. John Alfred Brashear was the first of their seven children.

Education

Brashear's maternal grandfather, who had a passion for astronomy, taught the constellations to the boy by the time he was eight, presented him with his own prized volumes of Dr. Dick's Works (1850), and paid for John's first view of the heavens through a telescope.

All of young Brashear's formal education was obtained in the common schools of Brownsville and in a four-months' course in bookkeeping at Duff's Mercantile College, Pittsburgh.

Career

During 1856-59 John Brashear served his apprenticeship in the pattern-making trade at the engine works of John Snowden & Sons in Brownsville. After working at his trade for two years in Kentucky he came to Pittsburgh in 1861 where he resided until his death.

From this modest beginning, Brashear rose to become the peer of any maker of astronomical lenses and instruments of precision of his day. Through his first lens he made the acquaintance of Prof. Samuel Pierpont Langley who was then at the old Allegheny Observatory, and through Langley he met William Thaw who gave him the financial aid necessary in going into business for himself in 1881.

Through his mastery of the art of making a plane surface, he rendered invaluable aid in the work of the distinguished physicist, Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University. The speculum-metal plates from which the famous Rowland Diffraction Gratings were made required a very accurate surface, no error of even one-fifth of a light wave, or one two-hundred-thousandth of an inch. The surfaces were polished and prepared for Rowland's Ruling Engine by Brashear and his son-in-law James B. McDowell.

Only the genius of his personality can explain the positions of trust he held during his last twenty-five years. Even though he demonstrated an inability to grapple successfully with business and financial problems, yet, as chairman of the Allegheny Observatory Committee he was entrusted with the raising of the $300, 000 necessary for the new observatory.

For twenty-five years he served as a trustee of the Western University of Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh), and though he thrice refused its chancellorship he served as acting chancellor for three years.

He was one of three men selected by Andrew Carnegie to draw up plans for the Carnegie Institute of Technology. And when Henry C. Frick decided to make his gift of a half million dollars to establish the Frick Educational Commission, he did it on condition that Brashear undertake the work of getting the activities of the Commission under way.

On his death in 1920, Brashear was mourned not only as Pittsburgh's, but as Pennsylvania's "best loved citizen. "

Achievements

• It was the perfection of Brashear's lenses that caused them to be in great demand for by astronomers everywhere, and it is impossible to estimate accurately the progress in the science of astronomy due to his mechanical genius. Along with his partner James Brown McDowell he founded a company "John A. Brashear Co. " for making optical elements and instruments of high precision. His instruments gained worldwide respect and were purchased by almost every important observatory in the world. Today his glasses are still in use not only in the United States but also Europe, the Orient, and in the Islands of the Pacific. Brashear's great contribution to science lay in his mastery of the art of making a plane surface. Another great contribution to science was the Brashear Method for silvering mirrors. The largest mirror made by the John A. Brashear Company was the 72-inch mirror for the Dominion Observatory in Canada. It was Brashear the man, rather than Brashear the scientist, who was the recipient of uncounted honors in the later years of his life. In 1910 he was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal of The Franklin Institute. Throughout his career he served as acting director of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory, chancellor of the University of Pennsylvania, trustee of Carnegie Institute and Brashear telescopes are still in use worldwide. He was also one of three men, who was chosen by Andrew Carnegie to draw up plans for the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Serving as chairman of the Allegheny Observatory Committee, Brashear was able to raise about $300, 000 necessary for the new observatory. His scientific contribution was greatly recognized even in later years before his death, and for that reason The Brashear Association was founded in 1916 in his memory.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Man Who Loved the Stars

    ( The inspiring story of a man whose avocation as a starg...)

  • John A. Brashear: The Autobiography Of A Man Who Loved The Stars

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • A Biographical Sketch of S. P. Langley (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from A Biographical Sketch of S. P. Langley Wha...)

  • Stargazer

Religion

John Brashear and his wife were active members of Methodist church as well. Brashear even organized the Cantata Society while serving as the choir director of Bingham Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

Views

Until Brashear suffered a physical breakdown in 1881, Brashear endured the rigors of life in the mills in conjunction with long hours of night work devoted to study. The memory of the beauty of his first vision of the heavens persisted with such compelling force throughout these difficult years that he decided, since he could not afford to buy a good object glass, that he would make a telescope for himself. He knew nothing about the polishing of lenses, but he bought a glass for a five-inch lens and some books to tell him how to go about the work. He was arising at 5:30 to go to work in the mills and not returning until 6:00 o'clock or even later. But, with the constant and invaluable aid of his wife, he labored over the polishing of the glass far into the nights. It was three years before the lens was mounted, temporarily, and stuck through an open window for its first revelation of the heavens.

Quotations: "Young as I was, " Brashear wrote in later years, "the scenery of the moon and the rings of Saturn impressed me deeply. .. . The entrancing beauty of that first sight has never been forgotten. "

Membership

Brashear was a member of the Cantata Society.

Personality

The mechanical genius of Brashear, though great, was overshadowed by the personality of the man. The force that dominated him was a sincere desire to share the beauty of the universe with all mankind. It made of him a unique figure, of broad sympathy and rare understanding. To literally thousands of people he was known familiarly as "Uncle John".

He was a man without formal education, and one whose entire life had demonstrated an inability to grapple successfully with business and financial problems. And it was probably the most precise characteristic of him that he did not stop until he had a room in the new building where anybody who wanted to could see and hear about his "starry heavens" free.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Perhaps his most important achievement was in connection with the design and development of the spectroscope for astronomical uses".

Connections

On September 24, 1862, Brashear married Phoebe Stewart.

Father:

Basil Brown Brashear

saddler

Mother:

Julia Smith Brashear

Acquaintance:

Samuel Pierpont Langley

Professor

wife :

Phoebe A Stewart Brashear

1843–1910

maternal grandfather:

Nathanial Smith

clock repairer

Partner:

William Thaw

businessman

Partner:

James Brown McDowell

ancestor:

Otho Brashear

associate:

Henry A. Rowland

physicist

References

• John Alfred Brashear
• John Alfred Brashear: Scientist and Humanitarian, 1840-1920 (Pennsylvania Lives)
• JOHN ALFRED BRASHEAR Humanitarian and Man of Science Optical Science