The technique which was pioneered at the U of A's Seward Observatory was the application of this technique to 1m+ diameter spinning, horizontal "tubs" for reflecting telescope mirrors. Temperature and rotation rate were carefully controlled so as to produce a spherical shape which minimized final shaping and to minimize bubbles and other flaws in the surface. At some point in the late 60s an optical engineering program was established at the U of A which has become one of the top two such programs in the US, with the program in Rochester, NY (think Kodak) being the oldest.

In the early '70s I hired a post-doc to analyze the optical chain of a product belonging to the company for which I was working. He did a great job technically, showing a first order design problem in the folded optics chain the resolution of which, unfortunately, was not economically feasible. Having been the interface and having written the report, I got the "credit" for killing the product line.  :-)

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Today we no more want perfect paraboles: we want adaptive optics.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}