ABSTRACT
At the turn of the century, there was a coterie of young men in Chicago who occasionally 'went out on the town5 for a good time. Most prominent among these was A A Michelson, who seemed to have an affinity for individuals with great skill in optical and mechanical craftsmanship. The other four were such craftsmen: Edward Petididier, an optical technician; Albert Porter, constructor of fine apparatus; William Gaertner, founder of the Gaertner Scientific Corporation, who had been the mechanical 'right hand' of Samuel P Langley and who had built the first powered aircraft for Langley which should have flown but failed to do so for other than aerodynamic reasons; and Achilles DeKhotinsky, a former captain in the Russian navy, who had come to America and become instrument maker at Ryerson Laboratory during the gay nineties.
