McCauley, George V.

George V. McCauley was born in 1882 in Perryville, Missouri. McCauley received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1908, and a master's degree and doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1909 and 1911, respectively. McCauley married Hulda Hawkinson in 1911, and the couple had three children.

McCauley served as an instructor and professor of physics at Northwestern University from 1912 to 1917. During World War I, he held a position with the Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC. In 1918, he joined the staff of Corning Glass Works as a research physicist.

McCauley is best known for his supervision of the casting of the 200" disk for the Hale Observatory at Mount Palomar in 1934. In 1931, Corning Glass Works began to study the feasibility of creating the large glass disk that would serve as a telescope mirror. McCauley's previous work for Corning on improving annealing schedules led to his assignment to this important project.

McCauley approached the project by designing, casting, and studying smaller prototype disks. McCauley designed a ribbed structure for the disk to reduce weight without sacrificing rigidity. Although the first attempt to cast the 200" mirror blank in March 1934 failed, McCauley and his team achieved success on the second attempt in December 1934. The disk annealed for ten months and was transported to California by train in 1936. After grinding, polishing, and a significant delay caused by World War II, the 200" disk was installed in the telescope in 1948.

McCauley received many accolades for his work on the 200" disk, including an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University. He continued to work on telescope optics until his retirement from Corning Glass Works in 1947. McCauley was called back to Corning Glass Works in the late 1950s to oversee the production of the 84" disk for Kitt's Peak Observatory.

In 1965, McCauley wrote "Corning Glass Works and Astronomical Telescopes," an unpublished manuscript about the 200" disk project. He died in 1976.