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Six decades ago, President John F. Kennedy hailed what would be named the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope – located 55 miles southwest of Tucson on the Tohono O’odham Nation – a national icon upon its Nov. 2 dedication.
“The great new solar telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona is a source of pride in this nation,” he said via letter at the 1962 dedication.
The building, designed by American architect Myron Goldsmith, is the largest solar telescope (and the largest unobstructed aperture optical telescope) in the world – at risk of being eclipsed by technological advances in space and on earth.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Arizona 100