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Chabot Space & Science Center Since 1883HistoryChabot Space & Science Center is the continuation and expansion of a public observatory that has served San Francisco Bay Area schools and citizens with astronomy and science education programs for over 125 years. The institution began in 1883 as the Oakland Observatory, through a gift from Anthony Chabot to the City of Oakland. The original Oakland Observatory was located in downtown Oakland, and provided public telescope viewing for the community. For decades, it also served as the official timekeeping station for the entire Bay Area, measuring time with its transit telescope. The observatory moved to its Mountain Boulevard location in 1915 due to increasing light pollution and urban congestion. In the mid-1960s, the facility was expanded considerably with the addition of a 90-seat planetarium, science labs and classrooms, a library, workshops, and a small exhibit room. Throughout this time, the Chabot Science Center, as it was renamed, was staffed mainly by Oakland Unified School District personnel and volunteers. In 1977, seismic safety concerns terminated public school students’ access to the original observatory facility. The observatory building remained open to the general public, but school activities were limited to outlying classroom buildings and the planetarium. Recognizing the need to restore full access to the facility, either by repair or relocation, in 1989 Chabot Observatory & Science Center (COSC) was formed as a Joint Powers Agency with the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, in collaboration with the Eastbay Astronomical Society, and in 1992 was recognized as a nonprofit organization. The project broke ground in October 1996 and construction of the new Science Center began in May 1998. In January 2000, anticipating the opening of the new facility, the organization changed its name from Chabot Observatory & Science Center to Chabot Space & Science Center. The new name was chosen to better convey the organization's focus on astronomy and the space sciences, while communicating both the broad range and the technologically advanced nature of programs available in the new Science Center. Opened August 19, 2000, the new Chabot Space & Science Center is an 86,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art science and technology education facility on a 13-acre site in the hills of Oakland, California. The original Chabot Observatory was built in 1883 by Anthony Chabot. It was equipped with an 8-inch equatorial refractor by Alvan Clark & Sons, a 4-inch double pier transit and meantime clock by Fauth & Co., a Howard sidereal clock, a Negus Break Circuit chronometer, and a chronograph. The observatory was given to the Board of Education in trust for the City of Oakland and was to be forever free to the public and the public schools. Chronology1882 The new superintendent of the Oakland School District, James C. Gilson, resolves that the district should have a fine telescope such as the one he had seen at the Philadelphia High School. 1883 Anthony Chabot, successful hydraulic engineer and provider of water to the city, agrees first to fund an 8-inch telescope, and subsequently funds the new observatory as well, which opens in downtown Oakland on November 24th.
1885 Chabot further funds a Fauth Transit Telescope with its opportunant chronometers and sideral clocks. This telescope establishes the correct time by measuring the passage of stars across its axis, and was used to set the official local time. 1888 Anthony Chabot dies, endowing the Observatory, which now assumes his name. 1915 - 1929 A new Observatory is built on a low hill, about five miles east of City Hall, and equipped with the existing telescope plus a new 20-inch instrument commissioned in 1914 from Warner & Swasey, with optics by John Brashear. This is the current observatory on Mountain Boulevard.
1924 The East Bay Amateur Astronomical Association, now known as the Eastbay Astronomical Society (EAS), is founded at the new Observatory. The Association makes the Observatory the focus of a great deal of innovative and enthusiastic scientific activity. 1960 - 1964 Physics and biology programs are moved to the site, and a new planetarium is built and equipped by four Oakland Rotary Clubs. Kingsley Wightman is put is charge of the astronomy/space sciences classes. 1976 After several years of discussions a site planning committee recommends a new site at elevation 1,540 feet several miles away. 1977 As the current observatory sits on the creep zone of the Hayward Fault, a new law bans the use of the site by school classes. 1980 - 1986 The Board of Education votes to support relocation, and the concept of a new Science Center operated by a new foundation begins to grow. 1989 The creation of the Chabot Observatory & Science Center (COSC) as a Joint Powers Agency is approved by the City of Oakland, the East Bay Regional Park District, and the Oakland Unified School District, in conjunction with the Eastbay Astronomical Society. This resolution creates a new steward for the Chabot endowment, to which the founding authorities can turn over assets. In the meantime, maintenance at the present site has been delayed, and the physical condition of the buildings becomes even more critical. 1991 Dr. Michael Reynolds becomes the first Executive Director of COSC. 1992
1993 The architectural firms of Gerson/Overstreet and Fisher-Friedman Associates are retained to prepare the Master Plan and to design the new facility.
1994 A contract with the United States Air Force provides a construction grant of $17 million. 1996
1998
2000 Chabot Observatory & Science Center changes its name to Chabot Space & Science Center. On August 19, Chabot Space & Science Center opens to the public. The state-of-the-art Science Center features the Chabot telescopes, the Ask Jeeves Planetarium, Tien MegaDome theater, hands-on interactive science and technology exhibits, teacher training and student labs, and public science programs. |
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© Chabot Space & Science Center - 10000 Skyline Blvd. - Oakland, CA 94619 - p: (510) 336-7300 - f: (510) 336-7491 |
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