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John Brashear

John Alfred Brashear (November 24, 1840 – April 8, 1920) was an American astronomer and instrument builder.

He was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a town 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. His father, Brown Brashear, was a saddler, and his mother, Julia Smith Brashear, was a school teacher. He was the oldest of seven children. After receiving a common school education until age 15, he apprenticed himself to a machinist and had mastered his trade at age 20.

Beginning in 1861 he worked as a millwright in a rolling mill in Pittsburgh, where he pursued his love for astronomy at night, with the help of his wife Phoebe. He had little means and could not purchase a telescope, so he built his own workshop behind his house to construct his own instrument. It took him 10 years to complete and was operating in 1874. He donated the telescope to the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory.

Starting in 1880 he dedicated his time to the manufacture of astronomical as well as scientific instruments, and performed various experiments. He developed silvering methods that would become the standard for telescope mirrors, but never patented his techniques. He founded "John Brashear Co." and his instruments gained worldwide respect. The modern optical firm long known as "Contraves Corp." now bears his name. Optical elements produced by John Brashear were used at Lick Observatory and Lowell Observatory.

In 1892 he made his second of three trips to Europe, this time providing a lecture tour. In 1898 he became director of the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, continuing in this post until 1900. From 1901 to 1904, he was acting chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania, now known as the University of Pittsburgh, after serving as a member of the board of trustees since 1896.

In 1919, he suffered a poisoning, which induced a debilitating illness lasting six months. He finally died at age 79, and his body is interned in a crypt below the Keeler Telescope at Allegheny Observatory, along with his wife. A plaque on the crypt reads: "We have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." He was survived by a daughter and several siblings.

• The Brashear Association was founded in 1916 in the memory of John Brashear.

Named for him:

• Brashear crater on the Moon
• Brashear crater on Mars
• Asteroid 5502 Brashear
• Brashear High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1976)

• List of astronomical instrument makers
• Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, California

• John A. Brashear, A man who loved the stars: the autobiography of John A. Brashear, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988, ISBN 0-8229-1151-5.
• Obituary notice, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 8, 1920.

• John A. Brashear History Cover Page
• Copy of 1920 obituary
• Brashear Association Archives
• Asteroid named for John Brashear
• "Uncle John" Brashear

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