Ambrose Swasey - Awards and honors

Mechanical engineer, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA. In 1880 he joined a Cleveland company to make machine tools and optical instruments. He specialized in large telescopes, including the 36-in Lick telescope (1888), the 40-in Yerkes, and many others. His company also provided high-quality instruments to the military during World War 1.

Swasey Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Swasey would perform the engineering and machine development at this company.

The close friends Warner and Swasey built their homes next to each other on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, a street that was known as "Millionaire's Row".

In addition to army ordinance contracts, the firm of Warner & Swasey became notable for their work on astronomical observatories and equipment.

In 1885 Swasey completed work at McCormick Observatory on the 45-foot dome, which was the largest in the world, and had a unique, 3 shutter design. In 1887 Swasey built the mount for the 36-inch refracting telescope at Lick Observatory. Both the building and dome of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory were made by Warner and Swasey Co. Other observatory telescopes and components were built by the company at the Kenwood Observatory, Yerkes Observatory, Argentia National Observatory, and the Case Institute Observatory.

Both Warner and Swasey were amateur astronomers. This was named the Warner and Swasey Observatory in their honor, and the observatory was used for research by the Case astronomy department.

Other donations made by Swasey include the Swasey Chapel in Cleveland (1924), a bandstand in Exeter, and the endowment of a chair for a professor of physics at the Case School of Applied Sciences. The chimes in the chapel were included as a memorial to his wife, Lavinia Marston Swasey. Swasey Company he co-founded would continue until 1980, when it was acquired by Bendix Corporation.

Awards and honors

The Swasey crater on the Moon is named for him, as is the asteroid 992 Swasey. At CWRU, the chair of "Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics" was named for his endowment. Swasey was elected to the Machine Tool Hall of Fame of the American Precision Museum in 1982.