David Sinden
From R.A. Marriott
It is with great sadness that I convey the news that David Sinden died on Monday, 29
August. David was Chief Optician at Grubb Parsons for many years, and was responsible
for some of the world's largest optics, including the 4.2-metre (165-inch) mirror for the
William Herschel Telescope, the 3.9-metre (153-inch) mirror for the Anglo-Australian
Telescope, and the new corrector plate for the 48-inch Oschin Schmidt at Mount
Palomar.
Although embittered by the dismantling of Grubb Parsons in 1983 – a company to which
he had devoted so much of his life - it did not deter him. He immediately set up his own
company, Sinden Optics, and continued to produce high-quality optics ranging from
standard-aperture mirrors for amateurs to a 40-inch mirror for a Japanese observatory,
besides more specialist items such as a 16-inch Schmidt corrector plate and batches of 2-
inch mirrors for industrial use. He also accepted commissions for a camera obscura for a
Spanish institution and another for the Cuban government in Havana.
David always emphasised that his work was not a particularly exotic occupation, and
delighted in such words as 'dirty', 'grubby', 'grimy', 'filthy' and 'gritty'; and yet the results
were superlative. He was self-demeaning in his acknowledgement of others, and often
referred to
the old hands who originally taught him, some of whom had learned their craft from
others who had been taught by Howard Grubb - the Geordies whom he said knew far
more about optics than he would ever know.
Although optics was David's profession, he was an amateur astronomer (he joined the
Association in 1949), and would take advantage of any opportunity to talk about
telescopes and to help those who consulted him. His favourite telescope was his 6-inch
Calver reflector on an altazimuth mount, and at times he took the opportunity to pursue
other lines of research, such as his experiments in meteor spectroscopy in the 1950s and
1960s.
David could talk for England. Telephone conversations averaged about an hour, and his
lecture presented in Northampton in September 1999 lasted almost three hours, while his
e-mails rarely contained less than a thousand words. But every word he uttered and wrote
was worthy of attention. He was passionate about not only modem optics but also the
work of his predecessors - particularly Calver and Cooke - and was master of his art.
R.A. Marriott
Curator of Instruments
Director, Instruments and Imaging Section
British Astronomical Association
Transit, Cleveland and Darlington Astronomical Society.14th October, 2005.
http://www.cadas-astro.org.uk/transitmag/Transit1005.pdf