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20-560: The Lamont–Hussey Observatory was founded in 1928 and was owned by the University of Michigan . The site was later taken over by the University of the Free State . In 1971, it ceased to be used, and in 1972, it was closed. Since the University no longer needed the building, the municipality of Bloemfontein took over the site and it remained empty for a few years. In 1978, the municipality made

40-708: A millwright in a rolling steel mill in Pittsburgh. He pursued his passion for astronomy during the night, with the assistance of his wife Phoebe Stewart, a Sunday school teacher whom Brashear met in 1861 and married in 1862. With limited financial resources to purchase a telescope , Brashear constructed his own workshop using a three-meter-square coal shed behind his house. He then proceeded to build his own refractor. Starting in 1880, Brashear dedicated his time to manufacturing astronomical as well as scientific instruments and conducting various experiments. He notably developed an improved silvering method, which would later become

60-576: A debilitating illness lasting six months. He died at age 79 at his home on Perrysville Avenue. His body was held in state in the Great Hall of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument . His ashes are interred in a crypt below the Keeler Telescope at Allegheny Observatory , along with those of his wife. A plaque on the crypt reads: "We have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.", a paraphrase of

80-550: A process which took over a year. The finished lenses were sent to Ann Arbor, where they were integrated into the great refractor built by the Detroit Observatory's machine shop. The device was tested in Michigan and then shipped to South Africa, where it was installed and began operating in 1928. The 27-inch telescope's foremost use was to study binary stars , a subject of great interest to both Hussey and Rossiter. In 1956 it

100-564: A stopover in London, Hussey died suddenly. Rossiter continued the journey, and oversaw construction of the observatory building for the next two years. He became the director of the LHO when it opened, and remained in that position until retiring in 1952. The facility in Bloemfontein was largely unused from when Rossiter retired until 1963, when it was officially re-opened by Frank Holden. The observatory

120-487: A town located 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River . His father, Basil Brown Brashear, worked as a saddler, while his mother, Julia Smith Brashear, was a school teacher. He was the oldest of seven children. As a young boy, John Brashear was profoundly influenced by his maternal grandfather, Nathanial Smith, who was a clock repairer. At the age of nine, his grandfather took him to peer through

140-686: The McMath–Hulbert Observatory ( Lake Angelus, Michigan , 1930), the Portage Lake Observatory ( Dexter, Michigan , 1948), and the Peach Mountain Observatory (Dexter, Michigan, 1955). The LHO was the project of two people: Robert P. Lamont , an industrialist, and William J. Hussey , a professor of astronomy at UM, and director of the Detroit Observatory. The two men shared a room while attending UM, and were friends from that time. Lamont agreed to fund an observatory in

160-731: The Panama-Pacific Exposition (1915), in which a 20" Warner-Swasey telescope with Brashear optics was displayed, Brashear was named "the State's most distinguished man" by Pennsylvania's Governor Martin Grove Brumbaugh . The telescope is still in use today at Chabot Space and Science Center at Oakland, California. John Brashear was admired and beloved by fellow western Pennsylvanians and international astronomers, who familiarly called him "Uncle John". In 1919, he suffered ptomaine poisoning (an outdated term for food poisoning), which induced

180-520: The Southern Hemisphere in 1910. However, the First World War intervened and the project was on hold for several years. In 1923, Hussey visited South Africa and selected Naval Hill in Bloemfontein as the site for the observatory. After the telescope was completed and shipped to South Africa in 1926, Hussey and another UM professor, R. A. Rossiter , left Michigan for the observatory site. During

200-635: The University of Pittsburgh , after serving as a member of the board of trustees since 1896. Brashear also was a trustee of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and served as President of the Academy of Science and Art. John and Phoebe Brashear were active in their church as well. He served as the choir director of Bingham Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and organized the Cantata Society, composed of church choirs from Pittsburgh's South Side. During

220-481: The Naval Hill Planetarium facility. The LHO's primary instrument was a 27 in (690 mm) refracting telescope for its entire span of operations. The lenses for the telescope were initially ordered in 1911, but due to the First World War, the two lens blanks were not delivered by Carl Zeiss Jena until 1923. They were then figured by James B. McDowell and Frederick Hageman of John A. Brashear, Co. ,

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240-591: The Observatory Theatre, also known as the Sterrewag Theatre. The building became re-used as a planetarium, the first digital planetarium in sub-Saharan Africa, and opened in November 2013. The internal appearance of the original dome, brick walls, and rotation mechanisms has been retained. A suspended and tilted projection dome hangs over the seating area, and a Sky-Skan digital planetarium is now housed inside

260-611: The space available to Sukovs for experimental theatre . The crescent-shaped venue seated 119. It opened in 1979 with the Sukovs production of Die Huigelaar , an Afrikaans translation of Molière 's Tartuffe , under the direction of Jannie Gildenhuys. In 1997, the Free State Ensemble took over the theatre and renovated it. The theatre has fallen into disuse, and was last used for a performance in 2006. Lamont%E2%80%93Hussey Observatory The Lamont–Hussey Observatory (LHO)

280-606: The standard for coating first surface mirrors, known as the "Brashear Process," until vacuum metalizing began replacing it in 1932. Brashear patented few instruments and never patented his techniques. He founded "John A. Brashear Co." with his son-in-law and partner, James Brown McDowell (now a division of L-3 Communications , and still based in Pittsburgh). His instruments gained worldwide respect. Optical elements and instruments of precision produced by John Brashear were purchased for their quality by almost every important observatory in

300-459: The telescope of 'Squire' Joseph P. Wampler, who often set up his traveling telescope in Brownsville. This formative experience of viewing the moon and the planet Saturn stayed with Brashear throughout his life. After receiving a common school education until the age of 15, he began an apprenticeship with a machinist and had mastered his trade by the age of 20. Beginning in 1861, Brashear worked as

320-565: The world. Some are still in use today. A crew demolishing his factory found a time capsule that became an object of dispute. In 1892 Brashear made his second of three trips to Europe , this time providing a lecture tour. In 1898 he became director of the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, continuing in this post until 1900. From 1901 to 1904, he was acting chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania , now known as

340-536: Was an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of Michigan (UM). It was located in the city of Bloemfontein , Free State , South Africa. Construction at the site began in 1927, and the facility was closed in 1972. Other observatories that UM has operated include the Detroit Observatory ( Ann Arbor, Michigan , 1854), the Angell Hall Observatory (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1927),

360-481: Was installed in 1948 and used to search for strong H-alpha -emitting objects. It was removed and sent back to California in 1951. The fate of a 6 in (150 mm) Alvan Clark & Sons refractor used at LHO is unknown. John Brashear John Alfred Brashear (November 24, 1840 – April 8, 1920) was an American astronomer and instrument builder. Brashear was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania ,

380-521: Was not an important research facility in its later years due to its relatively small telescope, which had been greatly surpassed in size by reflecting telescopes like the 200-inch Hale Telescope . In its last few years, the main task performed was a re-examination Rossiter's catalogues of binary stars. It was closed in 1972, and two years later the building was given to the Performing Arts Council of Free State in Bloemfontein, which turned it into

400-636: Was used by Earl C. Slipher to photograph Mars at opposition . In 1974, after closure of the observatory, the telescope was dismantled and the lenses were shipped back to Michigan. The telescope tube and other parts remained in South Africa, and are on display at the Erlich Park Fire Station Museum. In January 2019 the telescope tube and other parts were reassembled as an exhibit at the Naval Hill Planetarium. A 10.5 in (270 mm) refractor originally located at Mount Wilson Observatory

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