An account is given of the history of two observational programs set for
the Palomar 200-inch
telescope, one by Walter Baade and the other by Edwin Hubble near the
start of the scheduled
operation of the telescope 50 years ago. The review is partly an
assessment of whether, and how
well, these programs have been carried to completion, and partly an
account of the response of
Palomar to new discoveries and developments not foreseen in
1950. Stellar evolution, the
discovery of variations in the metallicity of stars of different
populations, the chemical evolution of
the Galaxy, the Cepheid P-L relation, the redshift-distance relation of
the expanding universe,
and the extragalactic distance scale are discussed as they relate to the
predictions for progress
on the programs set out by Baade and Hubble. Not foreseen was the
invention and development
of radio astronomy and high energy astrophysics, leading to the
discovery of radio galaxies,
quasars, and the gradual realization of violent events, both in stars
and in galaxies. The review
is highly restricted to these subjects, covering only three areas among
the totality of the work in
observational astrophysics studied during the first 50 years at
Palomar.
ARA&A Abstract
(1999) Ann. Rev. Astron. Ap., 37, 445-486
Allan Sandage