The 'Dobsonian'

With regard to the 'Dobson' or 'Dobsonian' telescope.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why I see this this
design constantly refered to as 'Radical' or ' Revolutionary'.
To me it's a DIY Newt.
Was John 'D' really the first person to knock one of these together?

Before John D, nobody had thought of putting one of these scopes on a rocker box, hard to believe isnt it!, they were always expensive high end eq mounts, he popularised it and made big newtonians very affordable as the dob mount it just a few pieces of wood.
Maybe other before his did make them, but his is the name that stuck.

Ahh right so It wasn't really the scope...
it was the mount.
Yes!
it is really hard to believe that no one
'copped' on to it eariler.
It would make you think...
what else is there looking us in the face...waiting for an Eureka! moment.

And even more amazingly he got no royalties for it.
Though the first guys to commercialize the design (I think I read it was Coulter Optics) did give him credit for the idea.

John Dobson is on record as saying that he didn't want royalties, he wanted his fellow astronomers to be able to afford bigger apertures and those who couldn't afford to buy a traditional telescope setup to have a cheaper option.

Ahh right so It wasn't really the scope...
it was the mount.

To be exact it is the telescope as well as the mount. The true Dobsonian telescope includes a relatively light-weight (compared to traditional Newtonians), self ground mirror with most of his original mirrors being made from salvaged ship porthole windows.
The whole design is a great example of "the simpler the better".
Many of us had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the WSP a couple of years back. What an inspiration he is.....