Hale, George Ellery (1868-1938), was an American astronomer who pioneered in the development of instruments for studying the sun. He also planned the construction of several giant telescopes, including the Hale Reflecting Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego. This instrument has a diameter of 200 inches (508 centimeters). 
Hale was born on June 29, 1868, in Chicago and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1891, he introduced the spectroheliograph, an instrument that enables astronomers to photograph the surface of the sun with light of a single wavelength. Photographs made with it reveal the distribution on the sun’s surface of such elements as calcium, hydrogen, and iron. Hale also made important discoveries about sunspots. For example, he proved that these dark areas on the sun have strong magnetic fields. In 1895, Hale founded the Astrophysical Journal, which became the leading journal for astronomers. He founded and was first director of the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and, later, the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. Hale died on Feb. 21, 1938.
