A little-known system by the French designer, Maurice Paul, frees a paraboloid of all third-order aberrations save for a gentle field curvature. This system, used off-axis, yields paraboloidal quality images throughout. The Stevick-Paul telescope would be just another tilted-component telescope were it not for this phenomenal perfection of its image.

A remarkable design with an inherent optical perfection, this basic arrangement of mirrors in axial form has been rediscovered several times since M. Paul's 1935 paper, but it was David Stevick (in the center of the photograph) who made the design workable visually in off-axis form.

A.L. Woods (at left in the photograph) sprung his SPT on the convention-goers at the 1993 Chicago Astrofest. Overheard from one attendee - "My god, that was just published, and he has one already!"