Stardust - I'd have to say the accuracy of most of your post is largely
in question.

First off, John Dobson (perhaps to the surprise of many) was hardly the
inventor of a new or revolutionary telescope design. He simply
re-popularized a telescope design that (save for the thin primary
mirror) had been in use for more than 150 years previously but employed
less expensive materials. Commercial telescope makers in England and on
the continent were using the design widely well before the turn of the
20th century, as a check of early advertisements will indicate. Indeed,
fixed military shore batteries were mounted in essentially this same
manner for centuries.

Solid-tube Dobsonsian telescopes, faithful to the original 1970's
Dobson scopes, continue to be by far the most popular of all medium to
relatively large (8" - 16") Newtonian telescope types - not truss tube
designs, which are much more typical of high-priced commercial units
than of lower-priced or homebuilt scopes. And at least in the United
States, collapsible truss-tube scopes are down right rare. So is it
really surprising that Ivar Hamberg's name is not linked to any
particular scope design and has gained little recognition? Probably
not.

CNJ999