Faith and Reason

The great 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain in California was designed in the late 1930s with more than its fair share of faith. George Emery Hale had an idea that it was possible to build such a behemoth. Russell Porter made countless sketches of what it might be like. But only faith kept the team moving forward in the face of the unknown.

Faith is an odd thing. If there were no uncertainty, there would be no need for faith. Or said another way, if failure were not possible, then faith would not be needed.

Just as faith calls on us to persevere, reasoned judgement must oversee the project - informing us that failure is possible, no matter how well-intentioned the design goal, that the objective, as conceived, may well be beyond any reach, and all the faith in the world may not lead to an acceptable design solution.