Posts Tagged ‘Josh Hauck.’
One, Two, Three ..
… gosh, there are a lot of them, aren’t there? Welcome to Counting Stars, a repository for writings on the history of and around the Dudley Observatory. Those of you joining us from Facebook or All Over Albany may be unfamiliar with the Dudley Observatory. Here’s a nutshell version: Dudley is an observatory founded in the 1850s here in…
Read MoreThe Battle of the Board
It’s an unfortunate fact that the Dudley Observatory, no matter what it has accomplished and no matter what it may accomplish, will always best be known to historians for its near collapse just as it got started. The simple version of the story is that a split occurred on the board not long after Dudley…
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 until 1939, meaning his career spans the creation of the General Catalog. Raymond’s memoirs will hopefully fill in some of the gaps in our understanding…
Read MoreFrom the Collection: Polsey Clock
This piece is a bit of a mystery. It comes down to us simply as the “Polsey Clock.” Our other clocks come from famous makers, but Polsey is virtually unknown. It’s also very plain, somewhat battered, and missing a few pieces. Still, in its way, it’s the most interesting clock we have. It may be…
Read MoreFrom the Collection: Riefler Clock
While a telescope may be the most valuable piece of equipment found in an observatory, a close second is the clock. Through most of Dudley’s history, the type of astronomical work it was doing required precise, consistent timekeeping. Not surprisingly, Dudley has owned some of the best clocks available. Sometimes they were adventurous attempts at…
Read MoreThe Poetry of Benjamin Gould
Observatory Lyrics Tom Tom the President Begged Grabbed the money and quickly spent But Jimmy was caught though he was bought And now Tommy’s going to get what he ought. This little bit of doggerel was one of Benjamin A. Gould’s ways of blowing off steam. He would pen a scathing poem directed at whoever…
Read MoreA Scientific Puritan: Benjamin Apthorp Gould
Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel and James Armsby both deserve credit for inspiring and founding the Dudley Observatory. But when Mitchell was tied up working as an engineer, Armsby had to look elsewhere to find a director who could organize the construction of the Observatory building and get the instruments working. Through a developing partnership with the US Costal Survey,…
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 York’s political elite to witness the inauguration of the Dudley Observatory. The event probably looked something like this: This is a painting by Thompkinss Matteson (1813-1884),…
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 of the list of attendees stand out: Alexander Dallas Bache, superintendent of the foremost scientific institution in America at the time, the US Costal Survey. …
Read MoreThe Great Patroness: Blandia Dudley
Writing about Blandina Dudley can be tricky. I can wish it were different, but almost all of our sources focus on her relationship with the men around her. Basically, any discussion of Mrs. Dudley fails the Bechdel test. Mrs. Dudley was born Blandina Bleecker, part of the prosperous Dutch Bleecker family. Her great-grandfather, Jan Jansen…
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