Science: Stargazers at War

In the postwar hot-stove debates about who really won the war, a respectful hearing will have to be given to the claims of a mildly wacky group of scientific playboys—the amateur stargazers and telescope-makers. Without them, U.S. ordnance men would have been hard up for gun sights. These amateurs, who turned from telescopes to making essential roof prisms* for sights, have been considered so important in the war effort that they worked under aliases. Last week they finally gave their right names.

Amateur telescope-making is a cult with some 20,000 devoted addicts. With...

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