Before World War II, the vast majority of telescopes built around the world were financed by wealthy people with an interest in the sky above.
After the war, however, two major developments in the mid-20th century left the burden of financing large astronomical instruments largely on the shoulders of government and academic institutions. First, as mirrors became larger and larger to see deeper into the universe, their cost increased exponentially. And then, with the advent of space travel, the cost of space-based telescopes rose even further.
But now the tide can turn again.
On Wednesday evening, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy announced a major investment in not just one telescope project, but four. Each of these new telescopes brings a new capability online; The most intriguing new instrument, however, is a space-based telescope called Lazuli. This spacecraft, if successfully launched and deployed, would provide astronomers with a more capable and modern version of the Hubble Space Telescope, which is now thirty years old.
Schmidt and his wife, a billionaire with a keen interest in science and technology, did not disclose the size of his investment in the four telescopes, which will be known collectively as the Schmidt Observatory System. However, it's probably worth at least half a billion dollars.
“For twenty years, Eric and I have pursued philanthropy to push new frontiers, whether in the deep sea or in the deep connections that connect people and our planet, dedicating our resources to new research that goes beyond what could be funded by governments or the private sector,” Wendy Schmidt said in a statement to Ars. “With the Schmidt Observatory System, we enable multiple approaches to understanding the vast universe in which we are stewards of a living planet.”
Essentially, the Schmidts have taken innovative telescope concepts that scientists have proposed for government funding and will provide the money needed to build them. Their gift has enormous potential to advance the study of astronomy and astrophysics.
