Washburn Observatory

The Washburn Observatory is located at the 1401 Observatory Drive on the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The observatory was completed in 1881 and was a major research facility for about 50 years. Now, it is used primarily by the public during open houses and by students in the introductory Astronomy courses. Washburn houses a 15-inch refractor with a magnification of about 500.

History

The observatory is named after the former Wisconsin governor, Cadwallader C. Washburn, who, in 1876, allocated a sum of $3000 USD per year over 3 years for the creation of an observatory for the University of Wisconsin (UW). At the time, $3000 represented a seventh of the university's state-funded budget.

On September 19, 1877, John Bascom, the president of UW at the time, announced that the observatory would be built and that it should be larger than the 15-inch refractor at Harvard. The observatory was started in May of 1878 with a contract with the famous Alvan Clark family to build the telescope. It was decided that the telescope would have a diameter of 15.6 inches, which would make it the third largest in the United States. James C. Watson was appointed to be the first director of the observatory, but he died before its completion in 1881.

The telescope was used heavily from the 1880s until 1958; when the new Pine Bluff Observatory, about 15 miles from Madison, was dedicated. Today, Washburn is primarily used for public viewing and some of the introductory Astronomy classes of UW.