User:Jackvanlang/sandbox

Early Life
Howard Grubb was born in Rathmines, Dublin in 1844. His father Thomas Grubb was the founder of the Grubb Telescope Company who Howard would later work for. After training to be a engineer, Howard joined his father's firm in 1864 and gained the reputation of a first-class producer of telescopes. Howard's main achievements lie in the development of optical telescopes, however, he is also praised for his work on periscopes and the reflector sight.

Education
Howard Grubb went to school at North’s school in Rathmines, Dublin. Howard then went on to attend Trinity College to study engineering. However, he was withdrawn to assist his father in his in casting a 4ft mirror for the Great Melbourne telescope and did not return. The Great Melbourne Telescope was the making of the Grubb enterprise as it symbolized a shift from amateur telescope manufacturing to government-sponsored work in observatories.

Early Achievements
Grubb was elected Fellow of the Royal society in 1883 and of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1870. In 1887 he was knighted by Lord Lieutenant at Dublin castle. Sir Howard was a longtime member of the Royal Dublin Society, serving as Honorary Secretary from 1889 to 1893, and as Vice-President from 1893 to 1922. In 1912 he was awarded the medal of the Society, who was the third person to receive it.

Influential friends, such as the physicist George Stokes and the Armagh astronomer Thomas Robinson, enabled Howard to secure a contract to supply a 15-inch refractor/18-inch reflector combination telescope to William Huggins who was one of the pioneers of astrophysics at the time. It was during this tenure with Huggins that lead to other contracts for the Royal observatory, Edinburgh and for Lord Lindsay’s private observatory at Dun Echt Scotland. Through Grubb’s connection with Lord Lindsay was how he became acquainted with astronomer David Gill, who was to become the main proponent for technical improvements to the firm’s telescope designs and a general booster of Grubb’s work.