Yerkes Observatory, 1892-1950

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.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.