Yerkes Observatory

Common card · No. 341839

The Yerkes Observatory ( YUR-keez) is an astronomical observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1897, it houses the world's largest refracting telescope in the world, with a doublet-lens aperture of 40 inches (100 cm). It was initially operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding until 2018, after which ownership was transferred to the non-profit organization Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF) in May 2020, which began heavy restoration and renovation of the historic buildings and grounds. Yerkes re-opened for public tours and programming in May 2022. The observatory — known as "the birthplace of modern astrophysics" — was founded in 1892 by astronomer George Ellery Hale and financed by businessman Charles T. Yerkes. It represented a shift in the thinking about observatories, from their being mere housing for telescopes and observers, to the early-20th-century concept of observation equipment integrated with laboratory...

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