|
Breef Chronology of
the Astronomical Observatory and Astronomical Museum -I-
-OCTOBER
24th, 1871: President D.F. SARMIENTO inaugurated the
facilities of the ARGENTINEAN NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, as it was
called then. The first Director of the Observatory was a young but
promising north-american astronomer called BENJAMIN APTHORP
GOULD, who had been previously appointed in 1869. Gould and
Sarmiento had met when the latter was ambassador, during the
presidency of BARTOLOMÉ MITRE. The construction of the
original building had already begun in 1870, in the place then
called "Los Altos". The National Observatory was one
of the firsts institutions devoted to science in Argentina,
and was soon followed by the Meteorological Office in 1872,
the National Academy of Sciences in 1874, the Faculty of
Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1876, the Faculty of
Medicine in 1877.
-
In October of 1872, President Sarmiento created the
Meteorological Office (at present Meteorogical Observatory and
Museum belonging to the National Air Force) in the neighboring
field. Initially this office depended on the Observatory
itself, being also B. Gould its first Director.
-During
its firsts decades, the Observatory attained international
respect because of its pioneering works on ASTROMETRY, a
branch of Astronomy that intends to determine
and represent accurately the apparent positions and movements
of the stars on the sky.
The applications of such works exceeded the astronomical
research, because the results were esential for CARTOGRAPHY,
NAVIGATION, TIME DETERMINATION, etc.
-In
the decade between 1920 and 1930, the original building of the
Observatory was demolished, and the present building was
constructed in the same place. Only a few trestimonies are
left from the original building, among them the Repsold
Meridian Circle that is exhibited in the main hall. The towers
that support the two northern domes had already been
constructed by then. In
this two domes, two large and historic telecopes can be
visited: the Great Equatorial (N.E.) and the Double Gautier
Astrograph (N.W.)
continue
|
