Research Catalog

Yerkes Observatory, 1892-1950 : the birth, near death, and resurrection of a scientific research institution

Title
Yerkes Observatory, 1892-1950 : the birth, near death, and resurrection of a scientific research institution / Donald E. Osterbrock.
Author
Osterbrock, Donald E.
Publication
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Request for On-site UseRequest Scan
How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?
TextRequest in advance QB82.U62 W556 1997Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description
x, 384 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
  • Donald E. Osterbrock tells the story of Yerkes Observatory; built a century ago by the University of Chicago as one of America's first big-science centers. Financed by robber baron Charles T. Yerkes, the observatory housed "the largest and best ... telescope in the world," and its forty-inch refracting telescope is still the largest of its kind ever used.
  • Drawing on his experiences as historian of astronomy, practicing astrophysicist, and director of Lick Observatory, Osterbrock weaves issues central to the history of astronomy into his account of Yerkes.
  • He gives a sense of the formation, progress, and dissolution of collaborative research programs; the range of issues with which working astronomers concerned themselves; the changes in scientific practice as large, ambitious research programs demanded increasingly complicated and expensive facilities; the problems Chicago and other universities had in providing appropriate funding; and the growing role of federal in place of private support for research.
  • Illustrated with many archival photos, Osterbrock's exceptionally readable history of Yerkes is an acute biography of this renowned observatory in its centennial year and a vital addition to the history of astronomy.
Subject
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [363]-365) and index.
Contents
1. Birth, 1868-1897 -- 2. Infancy, 1897-1904 -- 3. Near Death, 1904-1932 -- 4. The Savior, 1897-1931 -- 5. The Boy President, 1929-1932 -- 6. The Boy Director, 1932-1936 -- 7. Resurrection on the Campus and at Yerkes, 1893-1937 -- 8. Birth of McDonald Observatory, 1933-1939 -- 9. An Extraordinarily Fine Group, 1936-1942 -- 10. World War II, 1939-1945 -- 11. Golden Years, 1945-1950 -- 12. Epilogue: To the Centennial, 1950-1997.
ISBN
  • 0226639452 (cloth : alk. paper)
  • 0226639460 (pbk. : alk. paper)
LCCN
96025450
OCLC
ocm34912732
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries