Corporate Body

Commonwealth Observatory (c. 1950 - 1957)

From
c. 1950
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
To
1957
Functions
Astronomy or Space Science and Observatory
Alternative Names
  • Mount Stromlo Observatory (Now known as)
Reference No
CA 634
Legal Status
Agency of the Commonwealth of Australia

Summary

The Commonwealth Solar Observatory changed its name to the Commonwealth Observatory in the middle of the twentieth century. The Observatory continued its focus on the study of solar phenomena as well as allied stellar and spectroscopic research. In 1952 the Observatory's workshop was destroyed in a bushfire, although the main astronomical observatory received little damage. The control of the Observatory was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Australian National University in 1957. It became known as the Mount Stromlo Observatory.

Timeline

 1924 - c. 1950 Commonwealth Solar Observatory
       c. 1950 - 1957 Commonwealth Observatory
             1957 - c. 1967 Mount Stromlo Observatory
                   c. 1967 - Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Mount Stromlo Observatory, 1936 - 1956, MS 037; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
  • Walter Geoffrey Duffield - Records, 1880 - 1987, MS 095; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • Bhathal, Ragbir, Sutherland, Ralph and Butcher, Harvey, Mt Stromlo Observatory: From Bush Observatory to the Nobel Prize (Collingwood (Vic.): CSIRO, 2013), 330 pp. Details
  • Frame, Tom and Faulkner, Don, Stromlo: an Australian Observatory (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2003), 364 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Gasgoigne, S. C. B., 'Astrophysics at Mount Stromlo: the Woolley era', Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 5 (1984), 597-605. Details
  • Orchiston, Wayne, Slee, Bruce and Burman, Ron, 'The Genesis of Solar Radio Astronomy in Australia', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 9 (1) (2006), 35-56. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Helen Cohn

EOAS ID: biogs/A002233b.htm

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