April 22, 2010
Vote early and often to support observatory renovation
The satirical admonition to “vote early and often” takes on new significance as the UW competes for a grant to help preserve the Theodor Jacobsen Observatory.
The observatory project is one of 25 finalists for a grant worth up to $125,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with the top awardee chosen by popular vote. Participants must register on the Partners in Preservation website. Those who register can vote once a day until voting ends May 12.
The observatory will have two free open houses: 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 1, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 2.
Built in 1895 with the same building material used for Denny Hall, the observatory was the second building constructed on the “new” campus. The grant would be used to preserve, rehabilitate, restore and increase accessibility for the building. This could include both interior and exterior repairs. The building’s supports need fixing; the dome doesn’t turn smoothly; the roof has leaked; humidity in the Transit Room can be high enough to damage the century-old instruments housed there; and the interior stairway is so dark as to be unsafe.
The observatory was never really used as a tool for scientific exploration. Its chief purpose was, and continues to be, as an instructional tool. It is open for public viewing and shows several times a month. Talks usually take place in a classroom adjoining the observatory itself, and the dome is opened for celestial observation on clear nights. The six-inch telescope is operated by members of the Seattle Astronomical Society; programming and tours are typically provided by undergraduate volunteers.
“We view the Jacobsen Observatory as a special place where we can educate our young, see thrilling images of celestial objects, hear informative astronomical talks, learn to use telescopes, and for a few precious hours, step back in time and be in total awe of the universe,” says Ana Larson, senior lecturer in astronomy who is in charge of the observatory.
The observatory has an interesting history, some of which is the subject of urban legend. Joseph Taylor, who was appointed to the UW as a mathematics professor, taught the UW’s first astronomy class on the downtown campus. In 1891 or 1892, he obtained a grant from the Regents and purchased the telescope, which was installed in university property downtown.
How the observatory came to be the second building on the “wilderness campus” is a matter of some speculation. There are people who believe that Taylor began marking out a location for the observatory, without any formal approval, but managed to persuade the builders of Denny Hall that he was, in fact, an architect. The one thing that is reasonably certain is that Taylor did assist with construction when he wasn’t engaged in teaching.
The telescope is probably the only one of its vintage still in original operating condition and still used for viewing the night sky.
One frequently debated “fact” concerns the rotational system for the building’s dome. Some insist that the balls on which the dome rotates are leftover cannonballs from the Civil War. If that were ever true, it isn’t now, says Larson. “Some visitor knocked on them and said something to the order of ‘nope!’ Even a cursory look at Google images confirms this, at least for the current ball bearings. There is a rumor still floating around that a current physics prof ‘stole’ a cannonball from the observatory and has it hidden away somewhere.”
The observatory contains a number of century-old instruments, in addition to the telescope. These include:
- A “crudely constructed” astrograph — a telescope specifically designed for taking photographs.
- A transit telescope, a special-purpose instrument used to accurately measure the position of stars. Larson believes this telescope may have been linked to local maritime and railroad offices to keep their timekeeping accurate, which was the instrument’s primary purpose early in the 20th century.
- A non-working chronograph, presumably to be used with the transit.
- Two micrometers.
- An objective prism, which allows taking the spectrum of all stars in a field of vision simultaneously.
- A surveyor’s level.
- A pendulum clock.
The history of the observatory and of astronomy at the UW are intertwined. Perhaps because of Seattle’s reputation for cloudy skies, astronomy instruction was handled by a single faculty member until 1965. Theodor Jacobsen began teaching at the UW in 1928, with responsibilities for astronomy and math, and was still around 37 years later when the Astronomy Department was founded by him and two other faculty members (today it has more than 30 faculty members and postdocs). Jacobsen became emeritus in 1971, but his career was far from over. He began working on a book that chronicles the work of ancient astronomers and philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler. Specifically, he was interested in how mathematical models evolved in the centuries before Isaac Newton, and how those models were used to explain planetary motion. Jacobsen’s book was published in 1999, when he was 98 years old, in all probability making him the oldest UW faculty member who had his work published.
More information about the observatory is online here.
