My mother knew someone who was the (or one of the) lens polisher(s) for the Palomar Observatory when they were making the telescope.

One of my favorite structures of all time. When I first saw this painting of it in my brother's copy of the Golden Nature Guide "Stars," it enflamed my Flash Gordon-obsessed little brain, in the way it so thoroughly epitomized the Art Deco universe of that old movie serial I'd been watching on TV. The 200 inch Hale telescope first used at Palomar in 1949 actually exceeds the space Hubble in light-gathering and resolving power, but the latter benefits from not having to deal with the distortions introduced by the earth's atmosphere. However, new image processing techniques are overcoming that disadvantage, I hear. Still, nothing is needed to enhance the building's coolness factor in my opinion.