Boller and Chivens

Boller and Chivens

Company type	Private
Industry	Precision instruments, astronomy equipment
Founded	1946 (1946)
Founder	Harry Berthold Boller, Clyde Cuthbertson Chivens
Defunct	1965 (1965)
Fate	Acquired by Perkin-Elmer
Headquarters	South Pasadena, California , United States
Products	Telescopes, spectrographs, Baker-Nunn satellite tracking camera (in collaboration)

Boller and Chivens was a U.S.-based producer of precision telescopes and spectrographs located in South Pasadena, California.

History

Established circa 1946 by Caltech alumni Harry Berthold Boller (1915–1997) and Clyde Cuthbertson Chivens (1915–2008), the enterprise focused on crafting high-precision astronomical devices. The company maintained connections with High Vacuum Electronics, which later became Kilovac and is currently part of Tyco Electronics. In 1965, ownership of the company transferred to Perkin-Elmer.

In the 1950s, Boller and Chivens collaborated with Perkin-Elmer to engineer the large-aperture Baker-Nunn satellite tracking camera for the U.S. Vanguard satellite initiative, representing a notable advancement in space surveillance instrumentation.

In culture

A 41-cm (16-inch) Boller and Chivens Cassegrain reflector telescope, formerly housed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Oak Ridge Observatory, is presently accessible to the public through the National Air and Space Museum's Public Observatory Project situated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

External links

• www.bollerandchivens.com: website created by ex-employee Don Winans featuring documentation on Boller and Chivens products. (Accessed 23 January 2012)
• Blog entry requesting information about the Boller and Chivens image archive, dated March 12, 2009
• Directory of Boller and Chivens images