Francis Gladheim Pease

Two silver gelatin prints, 9 3/4 by 8 inches. 

Ex Ewen Whitaker, lunar scientist and astronomer

Two silver gelatin prints, formerly mounted, with residual adhesive to versos. Slight silver tone to both, especially to edges.
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A photograph of the southern portion of the last quarter of the Moon, accompanied by a photograph of the 100-inch Hooker Telescope — the telescope with which the former was taken.

Dr. Francis Pease was an American mechanical engineer, optician, and astronomer, who made great contributions to the field of instrument design and astrophotography in the early twentieth century. He spent the bulk of his career at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, where he designed and constructed a series of instruments, and explored the practical operation of large telescopes.

With the completion of the Hooker 100-inch reflector, Pease commenced a series of direct photographic observations of nebulae and star fields from 1917-1919, and would later expand his subject matter to encompass lunar photography. The Hooker telescope remained the largest aperture telescope in the world from 1917 to 1949. Pease's interest in lunar and planetary photography remained with him throughout his life, and for his contributions to the field, had a lunar impact crater named after him (Pease crater).