George Ellery Hale Biography

George Ellery Hale biography, essentials: George Ellery Hale's was born in 1868 in Chicago.

The family avoided the great fire of 1871 and George Ellery Hale's father, William, set up a company to supply elevators to the world's first skyscrapers which replaced many burned out buildings. This wealth allowed him to indulge his son's interests in building telescopes.

As an adult George Ellery Hale became expert at persuading other people to part with the money needed to build the largest telescopes. He persuaded Charles Tyson Yerkes to fund the Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago. (Yerkes had constructed Chicago's elevated rail transit system).

• George Ellery Hale's life-long obsession was to build the world's largest telescope—he succeeded.

Further reading: Find a longer George Ellery Hale biography on Amazon.com or Amazon UK, or in Encyclopedia Britannica.