Cincinnati is known as the birthplace of professional baseball. But it’s also the origin of American astronomy. The Cincinnati Observatory, founded in November 1843, boasts the oldest continually used astronomical telescope in the United States. Step back in time with WCPO comics journalist Kevin Necessary to explore this unique chapter in Cincinnati history and celebrate the observatory’s 175th anniversary.
SOURCES
The Cincinnati Observatory
A History of the Cincinnati Observatory Center
Ohio History Central biographical page off Ormsby M. Mitchel
Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress, by Joseph Wheelan, published by PublicAffair/ Perseus Books Group, 2008
The History of the Telescope, by Henry C. King, published by Dover Publications, 2011
The Merz Company: A Global Player of 19th Century, by Gudrun Wolfschmidt and Jürgen Kost
An Oration, Delivered before the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, on the Occasion of Laying the Corner Stone of an Astronomical Observatory, by John Quincy Adams. Originally published by Shephard and Co., 1843
“Early American Observatories,” by Willis I. Milham, published in Popular Astronomy, December 1937
Other comics journalism stories and editorial cartoons by Kevin Necessary