How Isaac Newton Changed Telescopes Forever

Adam Savage investigates one of The Royal Society's most prized artifacts: a reflecting telescope designed and made by Sir Isaac Newton! As depicted in Newton's drawings--this model was one of the first reflecting telescopes successfully created to demonstrate the concept, which is still the fundamental design for telescopes today!
Adam's last visit to the Royal Society: • Adam Savage vs The "Pe...
Shot by Josh Self and edited by Norman Chan
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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Thanks for watching!

[@Arisaka99]

Please keep making Royal Society videos! I absolutely love the enthusiasm shown for the objects featured.

[@jeffdroog]

Well,when you've put as much effort as the British have into stealing it all,you're going to want to show off your stolen boots at some point lol

[@Qermaq]

If you want more videos featuring the RS collection, Brady's channel Objectivity is devoted to it (almost entirely).

[@user-gh3wt2uf2p]

​@@jeffdroogStolen boots as Americans have got? Yea, certainly. LOL

[@jeffdroog]

@user-gh3wt2uf2p I suppose the word booty was autocorrected...I stand corrected lol

[@edwardmking]

The curator is very charming I hope he’s featured in other videos.

[@ironageamplification1791]

These videos that have been posted recently have been particularly amazing. Keep up the good work, I never knew how much fascinating old technology the royal society maintained.

[@jeffdroog]

Not maintained,stole,and now show off to everyone who loves thieves lol Most of the shit the British show off were 100% stolen,and usually stolen by force with murderous colonization.Its amazing hiw much shit people can steal,and thne put on display lol

[@heaslyben]

Objectivity!

[@sshuggi]

I think a series of Adam Savage Remakes would go well with these Royal Society visits and other museums. Make movie prop versions, working versions, scale versions, whatever would be an appropriate time for each item to make a handful of episodes per item.

[@DavidKnowles0]

would love to see him try and to replicate the perpetual motion machine that he view at the royal society.

[@BrBobMackeSJ]

Newton had to develop his own technique for grinding mirrors, because the shops of the time were unable to grind them to the precision he needed. There is a fairly detailed description of the process that he used in his book "Optics".

[@Merennulli]

I really love seeing these interviews where both Adam and the person he's speaking to have a deep appreciation and a meaningful perspective on the things they're discussing. Adam's insights into it help a lot. I've gotten used to interviews where the person asking doesn't have a clue what they're asking about and leads the interview towards something unrelated that they think they understand instead. It's particularly grating when it's something I care about and I can just tell the whole time that the interviewer is just phoning it in. It's so refreshing to see when Adam and Norm interview people because they are absolutely excited to be there and talking about it every single time, almost like we in the audience are just witnessing them fan-gush over it, but then they ask these informed questions that bring out things I would have never thought to even consider. Like how this was a demonstration model rather than how Newton actually envisioned it being used. I always assumed he started with a small one like this and then worked up to larger in iterative improvements.

[@tuomopoika]

Bubbles in lenses were still common even the last century. Early Zeiss Biotar lenses have often small bubbles. They don't necessarily affect the image quality that much.

[@effTK]

Adam's enthusiasm over discovering something amazing and learning something new always makes me happy.

[@franklorenzo74]

Amazing piece! You know what else would be amazing? Watching Adam building one based on Ser Issac Newton original plans. Amazing video, thank you.

[@Brandon-zo9ly]

Came here to say this

[@stevenbergom3415]

I built a 6" Newtonian and the reason mine has several holes on the side of the tube is because I mis-calculated the position of the eyepiece, twice!

[@Beer_Dad1975]

LOL, I did that with my 12" - the "tube" was a plywood box that somewhat resembled a coffin, so I put a plaque in the place I had misjudged the hole.

[@dinosaurus4189]

Yup did that with my 4". I used a piece of sewer pipe for the tube.

[@Anabis_Xero]

I just received an 8” Newtonian reflector yesterday. Very cool seeing this posted today.

[@lujho]

What an insane coincidence! I’m listening to the audiobook of Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver and just hours ago I left off at a part when the main character, a friend of Newton’s, was talking about and using this exact type of telescope to observe Newton himself.

[@zacretzer]

I can’t put into words how much I adore these Royal Society videos. I would watch however many hours of content you could shoot with these incredible presenters with their amazing object lessons in science history.

[@Fuzzycat16]

These are my favourite videos on this channel so far. Extremely educational.

[@Adrokk3]

Love these sorts of videos, seeing and explaining things from history, where they come from and with a fantastic sense of curiosity. Thank you Adam and team!

[@DWSOutdoors]

Once again Adam I must say how thankful I am that you get together with the proper people to have such a valuable conversation and you are so kind to share these with the world!

[@Puddertoget]

Someone should really tell Adam about John Dobson who founded Sidewalk Astronomers in San Francisco and invented the home made Dobsonian Telescope. Some of his giant telescopes are probably still around. Visiting this community is ripe ground for some great Tested content! I bet the Sidewalk Astronomers are probably still around making telescopes. 😄

[@Nerd3Ddotcom]

I was just about to comment that you can't talk about cardboard Newtonian telescopes with out mentioning John Dobsom.The original Sidewalk Astronomer.

[@Beer_Dad1975]

I met him once (John Dobson, not Adam) when he came to Auckland in the 90's - eccentric as anything, but fascinating guy.

[@JoshuaC923]

Such a joy to be able to watch these mini history lessons on demand on KZbin, thanks Adam and team!

[@martinlagrange8821]

Happy to share than I have a 10" Newtonian, and it is an absolute deep-sky weapon - the 'Newt' remains one of the greatest and widespread-used reflectors, and the most constructed - for centuries. It's possible to buy replicas of the original instrument, with modern optics and materials - and they work well.

[@TheDevilWAH]

I have often been jelous of Adam, but never more so than this. I have been lucky enought to attend lectures at the Royal Insitute but to get a personal tour with some one so knowlagable and clearly passionate about sharing the history and knowlage behind the scenes.... Seeing as its close to the 4th july, just think this was happening 100 years before.. I find it stagering to think how so many things we take for granted needed people like Newton to figure out. No internet, no electric, no phones, no real communication out side of face to face and letters that took weeks to arrive. and yet people still managed to work out this stuff.

[@StodaGryph]

That was marvelous! I love it when knowledgeable people talk about things that enthrall them.

[@paulkinzer7661]

As someone who's made more than a dozen telescopes, both reflectors and refractors, this was particularly interesting. I've seen this model, or reproductions of it (including Adam's) before, but never knew this was meant as a model. I made a model of a Galilean telescope years ago, and it really shows the advantages of Newton's design: it isn't just that the early refractors had chromatic aberrations ('false color' rainbow effects), but their field of view is so tiny. Even though Galileo studied the moon at pretty low magnification (25x?), he could not see the whole moon at one time. What a drag it must have been just to aim the thing properly, and then track with it by hand as the earth rotated. The moon would have been the easiest target, being so big and bright. But he also studied Jupiter, and not only discovered its four largest moons, he studied them over enough time to figure out that they were four bodies orbiting the planet at different distances. Knowing the mount he used to guide the scope, I'm amazed at his perseverance.

[@ofgs2]

Really great video! Fascinating stuff, and a really thoughtful discussion with an expert.

[@baragoth]

These recent videos about "real" histoirc objects have been absolutly great! And I already love the movie object videos!

[@peterdocter4659]

Love these short informative sciencecy history videos,. keep um coming!

[@nothere7198]

A fascinating and enlightening video. Thanks muchly !

[@chrismofer]

2:45 the "stalks" are called spider vanes and there are many interesting designs with different pros and cons. the one chosen by newton was best for this small design to have the least diffraction and to be practically built.

[@pumirya]

Thanks for another interesting and fun video. Keep up the good work!

[@AHobbistChannel]

Speculum isn't silvered. The metal itself is polished to a mirror finish. It tarnishes rapidly and needs to be repolished often. Early astronomers would have several mirrors for their telescope so there was always a mirror available that was bright and ready to go.

[@Sange4499]

Fantastic use for your influence mate, i love this stuff

[@neilcreek]

I was fortunate enough to see this in person when it came to Melbourne Museum 20 years ago. Having been into astronomy as a kid, and hand ground my own telescope mirror, seeing this was as close to a religious experience as I've ever had.

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

Try shrooms, that’s even better

[@WhyX11]

Love it! Tried once to build it myself! That was a challenge!

[@Stalonage]

This is so incredible. I never knew i needed this content in my life. Thank you so much!

[@leebrock8386]

These are some of my favorite videos!

[@somedude6161]

Keep up with reviewing old tech. Loved you book binding machine episodes. Also very much loved your Fraggle ones! :) i.e. behind the scenes

[@Sheshoo47]

Adam, you’re so cool and chill. I really look uo to you!

[@gordonwallin2368]

What a very nice video. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@HunterReport]

Loving these pieces in the field. Newton and the Met armory. Quite fascinating 🎉

[@zqzj]

Love videos like this!

[@larryo6874]

Really interesting! Thanks!

[@RubyMarkLindMilly]

Amazing the genius of these early greats 👍

[@gmt-5est803]

Thank you, Adam! For someone who prefers short, informative introductions to the history and philosophy of science, this is fantastic. Add another bullet point to the list of stuff I want to know more about...(sigh)...

[@bwhog]

Yes, restoration and preservation are very different things and we actually do both today. It depends on the object and what the objective is, whether to keep it working or make it look like new so you can see how it would have appeared in its glory days or to preserve a specific element from history as-is because you want to see the object as it has survived. There are good reasons for each. It's also worth remembering that the reflecting telescope, apart from utilizing different methods of light gathering and improving edge effects and chromatic aberrations, there was also a practical limit to what could be done with refracting telescopes. Using this technology broke through that boundary, allowing us to create larger and larger telescopes that allowed us to see objects much dimmer and/or much farther away. Giant telescopes were the pinnacle of astronomical instruments until the space age when we realized that we could put optical telescopes into orbit, free from the effects of the atmosphere, and get even more astounding images.

[@IDONTKNOWSHOW2023]

yay i loved myth busters this is an amazing channel adam

[@joebuddy7717]

What a lovely curator. Not high and mighty, but explains at the level of his student.

[@warren1134]

Everybody loves Keith. Much more of him and more fascinating things on Objectivity channel.

[@Desoter1]

I love watching you, Mr. Adam, get excited over a new item you have acquired, and what a pierce indeed, and what a piece of quality. Thank you for pointing out in this video that not everything that is made in China is low quality or "junk". Keep on making fun videos sir!

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

A lot of good stuff comes out of China, if it came from america or uk it would easily be 3 times pricier

[@mocko69]

Lovely video!

[@solotron7390]

I love the telescope's wooden universal ball joint supported by a cup and held between two curved metal side clamps.

[@HamishBarker]

Perhaps telescope making, or a visit to the Stellafane convention could be a fun addition to Adam's future project list?

[@patrickmonks9761]

Very interesting!!

[@MaxG628]

6:50 I knew about Newton and alchemy but always thought of it as a misstep on his part, though he couldn’t have known otherwise. That’s a great counterpoint that even if alchemical theory didn’t pan out, there was a lot of practical skill involved.

[@bigsarge2085]

Fantastic.

[@Capt.Marco-Hawk-L.L.A.P]

Awesome video

[@jamesmihalcik1310]

Newton's speculum metal mirror wasn't silvered. The composition of the alloy was specially designed by Newton to provide a reflection with polishing the surface. Speculum mirrors are difficult to cast and are not obtained easily. They are brittle and can break. Wonderful video.

[@evofas]

Amazing!!

[@ezragonzalez8936]

that is so awesome!

[@ollywright]

Newton was just such a remarkable individual

[@harryhazeel5974]

Adam is exactly the sort of guy who'll always have a flashlight ready to hand.

[@tbip2001]

3:56 i really wish some prop restorers would follow that thinking.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Thsnks Sir Isaac.

[@jm9371]

Ok, that scope has a cool factor of 1200 out of 10. Fascinating.

[@mpetersen6]

There is a drawing in one of DaVinci's notebooks that appear to be a concept for a reflector

[@TREVONBACH]

mythbusters uk with adam and keith -- has a nice ring to it! amazing presentation. thanks both!

[@Pagliacci_Rex]

Living the dream, Adam.

[@Trybalone21]

Can we get more with this gentleman?

[@brettsalter3300]

The Head Librarian Keith's tie looks a little like the style in 2015 from Back to the future 2.

[@mytube001]

I have a feeling that Adam has hijacked the Objectivity channel... :D

[@TylerDollarhide]

I recently acquired an original copy of the Philosophical Transactions from the Royal Society of London from October 15, 1937. It's on the paleontology of fish.

[@thefub101]

Love Keith!! Legend

[@zapfanzapfan]

Would be interesting to see Adam make a telescope from the grinding up 🙂

[@immortanjoe9362]

This piece is only 351 years old. Imagine what will be possible in another 350 years.

[@MrCunningham4]

If only they could see what we can see today thanks to this simple yet remarkable invention

[@tau3457]

This is shot like an extended scene of Turturro and Walken lol!

[@nachnema]

The guys tie is great as well

[@Yora21]

I believe the big advantage of these types of telescopes is that you can make them with a much larger diameter to collect more light and get a brighter image, and you can get a much longer focal lense, without the telescope becoming incredibly long and the lense extremely heavy. That's why the Hubble and James Webb telescope are build this way. (The James Webb doesn't bother with the outer tube.) It makes them much lighter and shorter, so you can pack them on a rocket and get them into space.

[@Spicy6969]

Who wore it better Keith or Doc Brown? Talking about the hair 😂 0:20

[@mateuszcielas3362]

how good would this model be if mirrors would be in good condition?

[@jckatz]

Was anyone else surprised to out Newton developed his own alloy?

[@ogi22]

At that time, for all intents and purposes, he was a real renaissance man! :) After all, we get this phrase from people like him for a reason 😊

[@cleon_teunissen]

The alloy is called 'speculum'. Speculum is particularly colorless. (Warning, 'speculum' is not only the name of that alloy, it is also the name of a medical tool used in gynaecology.) In Newton's time pretty much everything had to be custom made. Generally only rich people could do experimental science because only rich people could afford to hire craftsmen. Newton did everything himself. In Westphall's biography it is described that in his workshop (separate from his quarters) Newton had multiple self-constructed furnaces for casting metal. Newton had to manufacture speculum ingots himself, and do all of the grinding and polishing. (I don't think Newton himself discovered the advantages of speculum, I'm not sure.) Newton also had to manufacture the grinding compounds he used. (For the final polishing the particles of the abrasive compound must be ground down to a size smaller than the wavelength of light. So Newton had to figure out a way to manufacture that.)

[@jckatz]

@@cleon_teunissen thanks I don't think I thumbs 👍 does your post justice... So a heartfelt thanks.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

No, primarily because Newton is very much into alchemy, something most people didn't know about. His notes from the last years of his life has traces of mercury on it...

[@cleon_teunissen]

@@jckatz I highly recommend that you obtain/lend the biography of Newton by Richard Westfall. Another story from that biography: in 1696, in his mid fifties, Newton accepted a government office position in Londen, the position was called 'warden of the Mint'. Westfall writes: Newton packed and set off to London for permanent residence and there were no friends in Cambridge to say goodby to; Newton had never made any friends. As Newton took up the position in London he discovered to his unspeakable annoyance that the position 'warden of the Mint' had been hollowed out and was by that time pretty much only a ceremonial position. The man with actual clout was the 'Master of the Mint'. Westfall writes that Newton started with preparing himself: Newton obtained books on law, and filled many pages with notes. That was wat Newton always did. Whatever knowledge/documentation he could obtain, he obtained, all of it, and made extensive notes. Then Newton started campaigning to be appointed to the position of Master of the Mint. Now, I'm sure that in those days such high profile appointments were determined in the most shady ways: nepotism, bribery, etc. Clearly Newton was particularly ill equipped to be any good at that sort of backhanded business. But: he managed it. He did proceed to the position of Master of the Mint, and once in a position of actual power he became very active in the procecution and conviction of counterfeiters. That episode of Newton's life struck me. It shows an extraordinary character. in any situation: Newton wasn't going to take no for an answer.

[@ME10920]

Newton was probably the greatest human to have ever lived

[@johnhaswell6347]

I love Adam Savage, and Mythbusters ofc. However, I noticed something at the start of this video that kinda concerns me. The curator dood is wearing gloves so the oils from his hands and fingers are not transferred to the artifacts, right? But the curator dood shakes Adam's hand with the gloves on, therefore transferring Adam's hand and finger oils to the outside of the gloves, right? Anyways, love your videos!

[@Scodiddly]

If you want to nitpick… they could have filmed that at the end of the session.

[@johnhaswell6347]

@@Scodiddly true

[@mojosbigsticks]

Keith makes everything interesting.

[@atkelar]

As I have my own philosophy about what should be done to preserve old items... I am quite sure that a piece like this model might have been not just a "put up and never touch" item when it was new. Who knows what modifications it has gone through when it was not yet an artifact but a regular work item? I.e. who says where the preservation effect began and where the original modifications ended, especially if - like here - there are no proper records other than a drawing which might very well be "version 1" of that thing? I am not dealing with anything nearly as old as this, and to me, preservation includes functionallity; not neccessarily keeping a thing "as original" as possible, but rather "in as original a functional state as possible" - i.e. I'm fine with replacing parts if needed... but then, I am not a museum (yet) 😜

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

What's always interesting to me is that the stalk holding the 45 degree lens is not visible through the eyepiece even though the incoming light has to pass right over it. I guess because it is so far away from the focal point it just gets lost in the "blur"?

[@duckrutt]

They do affect the image, it's why pictures from Hubble have four pointed stars.

[@fewwiggle]

I guess the best analogy to explain why you don't see the stalk(s) is this: The light from a distant object is entering the telescope as a series of 'flat' sheets (the waves) going down the main tube. Only a small fraction of each sheet is blocked by the stalk(s). So, you get the complete image projected into the eyepiece.

[@SilntObsvr]

What Newton used for his mirror, speculum metal, wasn't his invention -- it was used for small hand mirrors for centuries before it occurred to him to grind a concave focusing surface into it to make it a telescope. The flat mirror is probably also speculum, which is a form of bronze with copper, tin, and sometimes small amounts of lead, zinc, or arsenic (even silver).

[@charlie2640]

There are a few other issues that make this telescope interesting. Lens require glass that is fairly uniform in refractive index and clarity over the whole lens and two surfaces must be polished, or four surfaces to correct for chromatic aberration. This makes refracting telescopes difficult. Reflecting telescopes don’t have these problems. They do have other issues. In general the surface needs to be more accurate and coated with a reflecting material. Also the surface need to be polished to a parabolic shape, not the spherical surface of most lenses. This is more difficult to do and to test.

[@PSNDonutDude]

To be fair to the restoration. We would often restore something much different today based on age. We often scoff at people decades or centuries ago that modified what we now consider to be history, but how many items do we today modify not realizing they will one day be historic? Perhaps the main difference is that the changes and restorations were not documented and so we can't say with certainty "this was altered in 1850". Anyway, just a thought about conservation vs restoration.

[@420inportland]

It looks to me like that eyepice half of the tube has been reversed for sure. I'll bet the cutout in the flange at the end would line up nicely with the hole that has been plugged where the conservator thought maybe another eyepiece had been fitted in the past. At least it does to me.

[@EmJayproductions1]

cant imagine shaking hands with someone who is wearing gloves as to not degrade the objects is the best way to greet them, but im sure its fine

[@frankharr9466]

It is a eautiful little thing.

[@Jeff-so3kj]

What flashlight was that you were using?

[@robertstallard7836]

Is this so you can get one so you can be "just like Adam"? He has an arm tattoo of a ruler as well. I'll bet you're going to get that, too.

[@Jeff-so3kj]

@@robertstallard7836 That is an awful lot of negativity for a quick question about a flashlight. Have fun with the rest of your trolling.

[@Luftbubblan]

As an astrophotographer i found this topic very fun

[@user-mj4nx2qx7h]

a few years ago i went to the royal institution and the same day i visited the ben franklin house. i almost see a connection between faraday's lab in the basement and ben franklin. i wonder if ben franklin's harmonium caused shocks from fiction.

[@robertstallard7836]

It's hilarious how they always choose a title shot of him peering at something whilst holding his glasses. As if holding his glasses does anything! We could have a whole website dedicated to "Adam Savage Peering at Things".

[@klutterkicker]

Isaac Newton, using his newly invented reflecting telescope to peek into the neighbor's windows.

[@Legweak]

Watching this as I look across at my 6in Schmidt Cass with a 40,000 object database in it !

[@LuisCastillo-tg6xw]

Another museum display build happening?

[@jonathonclarke52]

The two of you look like you have the same hair stylist. 😂😂

[@jhonbus]

Part of me feels scandalised that Adam has been seeing Keith behind Brady's back!

[@phild4186]

Brady might start getting jealous of all the time you're spending with his bestie. 😂

[@ball1]

It would be amazing if Keith visited the cave and Adam becomes the librarian !

[@WilliamBlakers]

Has Adam ever done a really in depth video of his own library ?

[@evanbasnaw]

Brady's other video of the lens (Speculum Alloy) with Periodic Videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/ana2iJKEia6beK8