Posts Tagged ‘Dudley Observatory’
Dudley’s Female Computers
Dudley Observatory has spent most of its 160 years as a working science institution, and not a museum. That means that its employees weren’t always focused on saving the kind…
Read MoreUnprofessional Science
In a previous post, I mention the “professionalization of science,” a cultural shift in which Dudley had a part to play. It immediately raises the question, what exactly does “un-professional…
Read MoreHarry Raymond (1876-1961)
A great “thank you” to Dorothy Matsui of Redmond, WA, for finding us and sending us material from her grandfather, Harry Raymond. Raymond was an astronomer for Dudley from 1905…
Read MoreOdds and Ends: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Throughout its history, Dudley Observatory has had a weird sort of half-fame. Yes, it’s a modest observatory in smAlbany, but there have been a lot of eyes upon it. Particularly…
Read MoreDr. James Armsby
In a previous post, I mentioned that Dudley had benefited from two institution builders, the first being Ormsby Macknight Mitchel. Mitchel was an energetic founder of observatories and lecturer on the…
Read MoreAn Event of No Ordinary Interest
On August 28, 1856, at the end of a conference for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Albany, the visiting scientists met with many of New…
Read MoreThe Lazzaroni
Given that the Inauguration of the Dudley Observatory took place right after the AAAS convention, it’s not surprising that many of the attendees were scientists. However, some of the names…
Read MoreWhere Was Dudley?
I get this question a lot. Actually, I usually get “Where IS Dudley?”, which requires me to explain that we don’t have an observatory at the moment, but we’re working…
Read MoreWhere Was Dudley? Part 2
In 1892, Dudley Observatory director Benjamin Boss took stock of the observatory’s position in the field of astronomy and found it wanting. Dudley was had fallen behind the times, with…
Read MoreHow to Measure a Mountain Without Leaving Your Observatory
Nineteenth century observatories were more than just places to look at the stars. They were packed with scientific instruments that were useful for all sorts of purposes: highly accurate clocks,…
Read More