The Carnegie Institution of Washington should not be confused with the "Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh", which is now a part of Carnegie Mellon University.
One of the Instition's first grant recipients was George Hale in 1904. Hale needed backing for the construction of a telescope built around a large mirror blank that he had received as a gift from his father. The OCIW funded the completion of the 60-inch Hale Telescope on Mount Wilson, in the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena, California. Immediately work began on designing the even larger Hooker Telescope (100_inch), completed in 1917. Two solar telescopes were also constructed with Carnegie support and together they form the Mount Wilson Observatory, still chiefly supported by the Carnegie Institution after 100 years. The OCIW went on to help Hale design and build the 200-inch telescope of the Palomar Observatory (construction was mostly paid for by a Rockefeller grant). The OCIW's chief observatory is now the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, where two identical 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes operate. OCIW is the lead institution in the consortium building the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will be made up seven mirrors each 8.4 meters in diameter for a total telescope diameter of 25.4 metres (83 feet). The telescope is expected to have over four times the light-gathering ability of existing instruments.
Carnegie's competitive zeal and unwillingness to collude irked his competitors, as did his moves around 1900 to expand into producing steel goods in hoop, rod, wire and nail mills.
Carnegie's general thesis was that America's democratic institutions and the economic and social freedoms they encouraged were responsible for her ascendance over monarchical Europe.
Carnegie emphasized that wealth should not be given to "charity," but that it go to libraries, schools, museums and other projects that helped those who would help themselves.
The CarnegieInstitution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research.
Two solar telescopes were also constructed with Carnegie support and together they form the Mount Wilson Observatory, still chiefly supported by the CarnegieInstitution after 100 years.
OCIW is the lead institution in the consortium building the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will be made up seven mirrors each 8.4 meters in diameter for a total telescope diameter of 25.4 metres (83 feet).
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