Civic Astronomy: Albany’s Dudley Observatory, 1852–2002

216 Pages·2004·1.053 MB·English

by  George Wise (auth.)

CIVIC ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS AND
SPACE SCIENCE LIBRARY
VOLUME 316
EDITORIAL BOARD
Chairman
W.B. BURTON,National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A.
([email protected]); University of Leiden, The Netherlands ([email protected])
Executive Committee
J. M. E. KUIJPERS, Faculty of Science, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
E. P. J. VAN DEN HEUVEL, Astronomical Institute, University of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
H. VAN DER LAAN, Astronomical Institute, University of Utrecht,
The Netherlands
MEMBERS
I. APPENZELLER, Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, Germany
J. N. BAHCALL, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, U.S.A.
F. BERTOLA, Universitá di Padova, Italy
J. P. CASSINELLI, University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A.
C. J. CESARSKY, Centre d'Etudes de Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
O. ENGVOLD, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway
R. McCRAY, University of Colorado, JILA, Boulder, U.S.A.
P. G. MURDIN, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, U.K.
F. PACINI, Istituto Astronomia Arcetri, Firenze, Italy
V. RADHAKRISHNAN, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India
K. SATO, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
F. H. SHU, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
B. V. SOMOV, Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia
R. A. SUNYAEV, Space Research Institute, Moscow, Russia
Y. TANAKA, Institute of Space & Astronautical Science, Kanagawa, Japan
S. TREMAINE,CITA, Princeton University, U.S.A.
N. O. WEISS, University of Cambridge, U.K.
CIVIC ASTRONOMY
Albany’s Dudley Observatory, 1852-2002
by
GEORGE WISE
Dudley Observatory,
Schenectady, NY, U.S.A.
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-6702-9 ISBN 978-1-4020-2678-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-2678-2
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
©2004Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception
of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered
and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
Bonnie Wise
Contents
Dedication v
Acknowledgments ix
Seeing From and Being Seen 1
The Dudley Observatory's first 150 years as an expression of scientific aspiration
and civic pride offers a new perspective on the evolution of astronomy in the
United States
Star War 9
The Dudley Observatory is created with the mission of mapping the
stars, then nearly destroyed by a bitter feud carried out by its
trustees and its Scientific Council

Time of Troubles 47
As American astronomy matures during the 19th century,
the Dudley Observatory falls behind

Disciplined Dreamer 57
A self trained astronomer, Lewis Boss, combines organizational
skills and scientific vision to re-energize the Dudley Observatory
viii Civic astronomy
Scientific Sweatshop 87
With the aid of the Carnegie Institution, Lewis Boss turns the Dudley Observatory
into an efficient workshop for mapping the positions and motions of tens of
thousands of stars
Harvest 115
Lewis Boss uses his own star catalog to make significant contributions
to stellar astronomy, providing a new rung on the cosmic distance ladder
Consumed by the Catalogue 127
In the course of fulfilling its promise to the Carnegie Institution to provide
a General Catalogue of the positions and motions of all the stars easily
visible from earth, the Dudley Observatory falls asleep as a research institution
Dust Collectors 153
The space age, and another dynamic leader, Curtis Hemenway, re-ignite
the Dudley Observatory's research, but then fall victim to a conjunction
of scientific and financial problems
Afterlife 189
The Dudley Observatory's 150 years history shows some reason why
civic science, believed in the 1850s to be the best route to world
class U.S, science, did not in fact become the way
the U.S emerged as a scientific power
References 197
Index 205
Acknowledgments
This book relies heavily on the contributions of many people associated
with the Dudley Observatory past and present. Two stand out. Nancy
Langford, longtime archivist of the Dudley Observatory, organized and
preserved the archival collection of the Dudley Observatory on which this
book is based. She also ran the day-to-day business of the Observatory, and
helped insure its survival into the 21st century. In the process, she
contributed many ideas and insights to this history. Ralph Alpher introduced
me to the Dudley Observatory, and has been a continuing source of
encouragement and inspiration.
Benjamin Boss wrote an earlier History of the Dudley Observatory 1852-
1956, published in 1968 in Albany by the Dudley Observatory. This book
aims to supplement, not replace, his first hand account, and cites it in many
places. Nor does this book aim to replace Mary Ann James’ work on the
Dudley Observatory controversy, Elites in Conflict (which was in part
supported by the Herbert C. Pollock Award of the Dudley Observatory).
Elites in Conflict remains the definitive account of that controversy. Indeed,
this book might be regarded as the story of what there is to say about the
Dudley Observatory other than that controversy.
The subject of science and the city has been treated exhaustively in Sven
Dierig, 2003, Science and the City, Volume 18 of the journal Osiris. The
history of astronomy in the U.S. has been most comprehensively treated in
John Lankford, 1997, American Astronomy, Chicago, U. of Chicago. David
DeVorkin has summarized much of the history of American astronomy in
Henry Norris Russell, Princeton, Princeton U. 2000. Donald Osterbrock and
Ian Bartky have illuminated much of the history of modern astronomy in
numerous publications. My debt to those authors and their works is greater
than indicated in the footnotes, and is acknowledged here.
x
My understanding of the 20th century Dudley Observatory was enriched
by interviews with Ralph Alpher, Roy Anderson, Christine Bain, Douglas
Hallgren, Marsha Hanner, Eugene LaFleur, Harvey Patashnick, and the late
Robert Raymond. They all led me to valuable information and insights. I
appreciate also their frank sharing of disagreements about interpretation.
The Presidents of the Board of Trustees of the Dudley Observatory, Sam
Wait, Sue French, and Wayne Roberge, and its Executive Director, M.
Colleen Gino have been extremely helpful and supportive without trying to
influence my conclusions. The talent and achievements of Sue and Colleen
marks an epoch in the history of the Dudley: the ascent of woman from
uninvolved benefactor and underpaid calculator to, respectively, the first
female Board President and the first female Director of the Dudley
Observatory. That story, which may turn out to be better than the story
contained here, just missed falling within the time boundaries of this history.
In addition to being delightful people to get to know, Sue and Colleen have
generously given me an education in astronomy. Sam Wait has provided a
model of diligence, integrity and efficiency as president of the board of a
non-profit organization, and his dedication to preserving the history of the
Dudley Observatory was especially helpful to this project. The trustees of
the Dudley Observatory, past and present, have also all been exceptionally
helpful and supportive. I especially thank Roy Anderson, Tom D’Andrea,
Bob Balmer, Tom Carroll, John Delano, Jim and Lucy Comly, Alan French,
George Elferink, Ellen Fladger, Bob Fleischer, Ab Hessberg, Becky
Koopman, Jan Ludwig, Keith Ratcliff, Janie Schwab, Steve Wiberley, Dan
Wulff, and also past board members now deceased, including Charlie Bean,
Ruth Anne Evans and Herb Pollock. A special thanks also to longtime
Dudley Observatory executive secretary Rita Spenser.
Ian Bartky, Mark Rothenberg, and Patricia Whitesell supplied very
helpful comments on earlier drafts of this book. In the course of developing
a bicentennial exhibit on the Dudley Observatory at Union College’s Nott
Memorial, Rachel Seligman, curator of the Mandeville Gallery, both assisted
in shaping my ideas and amazed me with her efficiency and creativity as an
exhibit designer.
I thank the Dudley Observatory for use of its archives. Other archival
resources in essential to this project were generously supplied by the Mary
Lea Shane Archives of Lick Observatory (referred herein as MLSA), the
Northwestern University Archives, and the Archives of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington (herein referred to as CIW). I thank the archivists
at those institutions for their generous help.
This book was mainly written while I was a member of the Board of
Trustees of the Dudley Observatory, and completed while I was Deputy
Director of the Observatory. It does not, however, represent the official
views of the Dudley Observatory
Chapter 1
SEEING FROM AND BEING SEEN

Civic astronomy is an idea whose time almost, but never quite, came. So
it is appropriate that the spirit of civic astronomy is best captured in a
painting showing an actual event almost, but not quite, as it occurred. The
painting depicts the inauguration of Albany, New York’s, first astronomical
observatory on August 28, 1856. The event was billed as the greatest
assemblage of distinguished ladies and gentlemen ever to convene in that
city. Alas, some of the invited dignitaries, including Senator William Seward
and former president Millard Fillmore, failed to show up. No matter. The
painter put them into the picture anyway.1
Captured on canvas, a wooden platform is set beneath a striped tent that
also encloses a couple of small trees. On the platform sit rows of dark suited
seriously attentive men. Among them, in a front row seat in the foreground,
sits a person described by the New York Herald’s correspondent as “a fine
old lady who has not altered her dress with fashions, but wears the same hat
she may have worn thirty or forty years ago, a dress of brown flowered silk,
and a plain old shawl.”2 She is not an astronomer. (Maria Mitchell, who is,
stands barely visible in the back row). Rather, she is the person “whose
munificence has called the observatory into being.” She is Blandina
Bleecker Dudley, daughter of one of Albany’s oldest families and widow of
the observatory’s namesake, Senator Charles Dudley of Albany.
Standing before the assemblage, his arm raised, the nation’s greatest
orator, Edward Everett summons up the spirit of astronomy in America.

1 The painting, “Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory”, painted in 1857 by Tompkins
Matteson, is in the Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York. On its history,
see Bartky, Ian, Rice, Norman S. and Bain, Christine, 1999, An event of no ordinary
interest–the inauguration of Albany’s Dudley Observatory” Jour. Astron. Hist & Heritage,
2: 1-20, 1999
2 N.Y. Herald ,Aug. 29, 1856, p. 1