Blinn Assistant Dean James Dire presents program at Astronomical League meeting

Dire discusses advances in telescopes at annual convention in Baton Rouge, La.

July 28, 2023

Blinn College District Assistant Dean of Physical Sciences James Dire gave a presentation discussing the innovations and advances leading to modern telescopes at the Astronomical League’s annual meeting Thursday in Baton Rouge, La.

Dire’s program centered around key figures and the advances they brought forth in the use of telescopes.

“The first telescopes were crude refractors developed by eyeglass opticians at the end of the 16 ^th century,” he said. “As telescopes came into use more, mostly for military applications, opticians specialized solely in telescope making.”

Dire has long been involved in the Astronomical League, authoring a column on “Deep Space Objects” for its Reflector magazine for 14 years. He has been a regular contributor for the journal Astronomy Technology Today since its founding in 2008 and is an editorial consultant for Solar Astronomy Today . The cover of the current Astronomy Technology Today edition has a picture of the inaugural Solar Astronomy Today issue, with both covers containing solar eclipse images taken by Dire.

Blinn’s Division of Natural and Physical Sciences offers programs to help students make a global impact, including biology, biotechnology laboratory sciences, chemistry, geology, physics, and veterinary technology. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu/natural-and-physical-sciences.