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Mercury, November/December 2005 Table of Contents

by Nick Kanas

In the period between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, United States astronomy came into its own. Stimulated by almanacs and popular books -- such as Burritt's The Geography of the Heavens, which went through several editions and sold over 300,000 copies -- Americans began to look skyward and take an interest in celestial events. By 1847, two U. S. telescopes were among the six largest in the world. One was at the Harvard College Observatory, and the other was at the Cincinnati Observatory.

The Cincinnati Observatory was founded by Ormsby MacKnight (O. M.) Mitchel, a true "Renaissance man" who was an engineer, lawyer, professor, astronomer, and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. His life was one of foresight, diligence, scholarship, and patriotism. In a sense, it was the story of the young United States and its commitment to enterprise and science that led to this country being a leader in the observation of the heavens.

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