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CMU gets $250,000 from state for telescope
Friday, February 02, 2001 By Byron Spice, Science Editor, Post-Gazette
Finding black holes in space has proven easier for Carnegie Mellon University scientists than raising money to build a giant telescope in South Africa. But after more than two years of work, they have secured their first commitment: a $250,000 grant from the state of Pennsylvania.
State Rep. Tom Stevenson, R-Mt. Lebanon, will present the community revitalization grant to university officials today.
The money will pay for some of the hardware on the South African Large Telescope, or SALT, now under construction near Sutherland, South Africa. The state's contribution is supposed to pay for components built by Pennsylvania optical companies, which have submitted bids to the SALT project.
In addition, the grant will allow the university to share data from SALT with other universities and high schools in the state.
But Richard Griffiths, the Carnegie Mellon astrophysicist who has led the fund-raising effort, said he hoped the money also can be used to leverage private donations. In turn, private donations may lead to more state funding.
"It raises the confidence that people have in the project," he said yesterday. "It could have a snowball effect if it works right."
An international consortium of universities and governments is building the telescope. Carnegie Mellon is a partner in the project and Griffiths is a member of the interim board of directors.
The university originally had hoped to raise $6 million for its share of the $30 million project, which would give its astronomers 10 percent to 15 percent of the observing time on the scope. Last year, however, the university committed itself to just $1 million.
Unable to fund their own observatories, many universities now own shares of major telescopes as a way of securing observing time for their astronomy faculty. Until SALT, neither Carnegie Mellon nor the University of Pittsburgh were partners in a major observatory. Pitt still operates its Allegheny Observatory in Riverview Park, but only with a skeleton staff.
When completed in 2004, SALT will feature an 11-meter, segmented main mirror and will be a near twin of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope that Penn State University helped build in Texas.
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