VAN VLECK OBSERVATORY

Since its foundation in 1831, Wesleyan University has had a real interest in disseminating astronomy to its students. As early as 1832, the construction of an observatory was envisaged, but the project was not completed due to the lack of subsidies. In 1835, some representatives of the university did not hesitate to travel to Europe - particularly to the Greenwich Observatory - to buy a telescope and other scientific equipment. It was finally in 1836 that the university was able to obtain a splendid 152 mm diameter astronomical telescope, which it purchased from a famous telescope manufacturer in Paris. At the same time, it also acquires a planetarium which is installed in a specially built building. It was Professor John M. Van Vleck, who was very involved in this project, who in 1843 gave his name to the current observatory. For 12 years, the telescope of the observatory was hardly used, only by students and professors. In 1866, it had to be moved and its building became... a henhouse! A strange fate for this first observatory, an unintentionally comical symbol and subject to many mockery on campus over the next decade! However, the telescope reappeared in the spring of 1868, when a second observatory was built on the roof of the former Foss Hill Pension. This observatory is cylindrical in shape and is known as "The Observatory", then "Observatory Hall". At the beginning of the 20th century, a fund was set up to subsidise new infrastructure, and the Van Vleck family offered a large sum. This time, it is a question of building an observatory mainly dedicated to teaching, with a 510 mm diameter telescope as its main telescope, inaugurated in 1916. Over time and with subsidies, other equipment and accessories were installed, including a Royal McBee LGP-30 "electronic computer" that took place in the observatory's basement in 1960! It is in fact one of the first desktop computers, with a memory of 16 kB and operating at a speed of 120 kHz. Finally, in 1971, a 610 mm diameter telescope was installed in the western dome following a bequest from the Perkin family. It is currently used by students for their theses.