Posted on 03/09/2018 2:34:34 AM PST by texas booster
WILLIAMS BAY, Wis. -- After more than 100 years of operation, the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, is closing.
Owned by the University of Chicago, the observatory is slated to cease operations Oct. 1
“Unfortunately, operating Yerkes no longer makes sense for the university from a programmatic or cost standpoint," said David Fithian, U of C's executive vice president, in a statement. "Drawing to a close our operations there is the first step in a collaborative process to determine the ultimate disposition of the buildings and property. We currently have no specific plans nor have we approached any potential buyers.”
Established by U of C in 1897, Yerkes has been home to groundbreaking work by scientists such as George Ellery Hale, Edwin Hubble and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
The university's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics was located there from the time it opened until relocating to the Hyde Park campus in the 1960s.
Now, U of C's observational astronomy research has shifted to using facilities located all over the globe and in space.
(Excerpt) Read more at wgntv.com ...
But is would be a great place to teach youngsters about astronomy.
Not only light pollution but radio interference.
I remember reading about Yerkes as a kid. For me this is the end of an era.
Just googled the locale. Doesn’t look like light pollution is a huge prob. Maybe the uni is in some financial trouble.
In place of astronomy, the university will now offer courses in interpretive dancing.
When you pay 6 figure salaries to the politically connected, like the Obamas, you don’t have much money for community outreach projects like the old Yerkes telescope.
That is more likely the reason. There is no real interest on the part of the university in teaching astronomy or doing the kinds of research possible with that sort of telescope.
All universities are abandoning real science and research for political fairy tales. Actually observing anything contradicts the fairy tale.
The only reason for schools today is to indoctrinate.
Our youth is not able to steer their own ships in the future.
Military is hving trouble finding schooled youth. They lack, “moral, physical, and educational standards”.
They no longer need educational tools I would guess.
My grandmother’s alma mater, Wellesley, is decommissioning their 24” reflector and upgrading. They did and continue serious scientific research from an equally light polluted site. They are replacing it with a PlaneWave CDK0.7m
https://www.wellesley.edu/astronomy/whitin/sawyer
Wellesley was a hotbed of observational astronomy at the end of the 19th Century and provided some of the best late 19th to early 20th Century astronomers, including Annie Jump Canon. They seem to be keeping up the tradition with a robust arsenal of scopes and courses, and appear to be doing good scientific work.
“Hubble kicked our butt.”
'Collusion' with Chicago officials and 13 other problems locals have with Obama Presidential Center
Closed door meetings...?
That's the most likely case as most of the State Universities here in Illinois (or as I call it, the People's Socialist RepuliK of Illannoyed) have had to cut back in the last 5-7 years because of this state's budget mess and the fact that enrollment has been falling for quite some time. It's gotten to the point that the "kids" here know what a mess this state is, they go away to college and many never come back.
My oldest son goes to Western IL University (full tuition scholarship) and is already planning on leaving the state once he graduates. Then again he's being recruited by several three letter federal law enforcement agencies and looks like he'll have his pick where he goes. I'm hoping he chooses the FBI and is one of the new breed that straightens that agency out.
The more I read about what the uni’s involved in, the more I’m glad I don’t live in IL.
U of Chicago is private with an $8 billion endowment. Astronomy just doesn’t fit with its new SJW AA mission.
The uni is private? If so, wasn’t there a tax on endowments in the tax bill that will coming due for the uni in the future.. ?
Why, I'm actually considering voting straight Democrat in the upcoming primaries and general election just to give the state the middle finger on my way out the door. Don't know if I can actually push the button for "D" just to give these dummies here what they say they want but it's amusing thinking about it.
Sutton's Law strikes again!
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