General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Metal

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

184.0 cm

Width

3.0 cm

Height

92.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Astronomy

Category

Research

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Unknown

Canada

The sign outside the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto, one of Canada's most important astronomical observatories The David Dunlap Observatory opened in 1935 as the result of a bequest from the wife of David Dunlap. The telescope was a 74 inch (188 cm) reflector built by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. The 74 inch was then the largest telescope in Canada (surpassing the 72 inch telescope of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria) and became the second largest in the world after the 100 inch Hooker Telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory outside Los Angeles. DDO's reputation grew and following WWII, it began to graduate most of the astronomers produced in Canada with University of Western Ontario far behind. Beginning in the 1960s a number of other astronomy departments were created but UofT/DDO held its place, a position it probably still holds. The DDO had a good technical staff which gave them an advantage and, with most of the 1940s to early 1970s top astronomers coming from UofT, grants from NRC and then ENSERC were almost guaranteed and allowed UofT's top astronomers -- Hogg, van den Berg, Fernie, Bolton, Kamper, Martin, etc. to acquire or build some of the best equipment available in university observatories. For optical observatories, only the DAO had technical staff and budgets that surpassed those of DDO. In 2007, citing increasing light pollution, the University of Toronto announced plans to sell the Observatory property. In June 2008, it was sold to Corsica Development Inc., a subsidiary of Metrus Development Inc. and the Observatory was closed. In 2009 the Observatory buildings and 80% of the site were designated a cultural heritage landscape. Also in 2009 Corsica and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Toronto Centre announced an agreement allowing the RASC to provide public education and outreach programs at the observatory, and to operate the 188 cm telescope.

Function

An sign identifying an astronomical observatory.

Technical

Several of the artifacts in David Dunlap Observatory collection, specifically the photometers, were developed by Dr. Don Fernie of the University of Toronto's Astronomy Dept. and the DDO. They were constructed in the Observatory's shops by Gerry Longworth, long-time head technician, Archie de Ridder and other specialist staff. Fernie was the leading astronomical photometrist in Canada and certainly the one most interested in improving the instruments and procedures. The acquired examples show the development from the simplest (#15) which was probably built prior to Fernie's arrival at DDO) with a single PM tube to multiple tubes monitoring the sky and star simultaneously to the set used in recent years simultaneously on both the 19 and 24 inch telescopes on the DDO administration building. The previously acquired photometer (from St. Mary's Univ. catalogue no. 1993.0288) was designed and built for Fernie but then given to Dr. David Dupuy, one of Fernie's former students. We have now been able to acquire the electronic instruments used with it which had been disposed of at SMU, e.g. the Hewlett-Packard Timer-Counter-DVM mod. 5326 (# 11a) and the Keithley mod. 417 picoammeter (# 13)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

White lettering on front reads 'DAVID DUNLAP OBSERVATORY/ University of Toronto/ Research in Astronomy/ and Astrophysics/ 123 Hillsview Dr./ Telephone (416) 978-2016 for/ Tours and Outreach Information'

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Painted glossy medium blue

Decoration

N/A