Lecture to Focus on UA Astronomy Pioneer, Antebellum Textbooks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – One of the world’s leading astronomers of the 19th century, who was responsible for construction of The University of Alabama’s only remaining original classroom building, will be the focus of an April 7 talk by a UA professor.

Dr. Gene Byrd, professor of astronomy, will discuss Frederick Barnard’s pioneering astronomical accomplishments, and the University’s rich history in that field, during the 8 p.m. talk in UA’s Gallalee Hall. Following the talk, weather permitting, Byrd and astronomy graduate student Becky Grouchy will lead a public viewing of the moon and Saturn using UA’s new 16-inch research-grade reflector telescope atop the Gallalee observatory.

The talk, featuring an 1842 astronomy textbook once used by UA students, is part of UA’s celebration of it 175th anniversary this year. Activities are scheduled throughout 2006 to commemorate the University’s founding on April 12, 1831.

UA’s original observatory, now home to the Capstone’s Computer Based Honors Program, was constructed in 1843-1844 to the specifications of Barnard. It was home to what was, at the time, the third largest telescope in the United States and was also used to keep the correct time, Byrd said.

Most of the campus was destroyed by fire during a Federal raid in the closing weeks of the Civil War, but the original observatory, located on what was then the outskirts of campus, survived.

According to an article Byrd co-authored in Sky and Telescope magazine, “The last entry in the observatory transit log, by (UA) President L.C. Garland, reads:

On the 4th of April 1865, the University Buildings with the exception of the Observatory were burned by the Yankee Raid. But the Observatory was forced open – all of its instruments were more or less injured, and many rendered entirely useless. One of the two eye pieces of the Transit were carried away, together with the collimating eyepiece.

The other lenses including the object lens were saved and sent for safe keeping to the Lunatic Asylum.”

Barnard taught at UA from 1838 until 1854. While at UA he discovered a new extremely rapid photographic process, which greatly shortened exposure times. After leaving UA, Barnard became chancellor of the University of Mississippi and later became president of what is now Columbia University.

As part of the University’s 175th anniversary, UA’s W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library will feature an exhibit, “The Stuff of History: Celebrating the First 175 Years of Campus Life and Culture at The University of Alabama,” which opens April 12. A part of this exhibit, which will remain in place throughout the summer, will include one of the telescopes Barnard used while at UA.

For continuing information about events at The University of Alabama Observatory see the web site, http://www.astr.ua.edu/Public.html