Boyden Station, Arequipa
1891 - 1927
In 1891, the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) established the Boyden Station, a high-altitude astronomical observatory in Arequipa, Peru. It was named for Uriah A. Boyden, whose gift of $250,000 funded its construction and operation. In active service for thirty-six years, the Boyden Station enabled astronomers at the HCO to extend their survey of the skies to the southern hemisphere.
Under the direction of Edward C. Pickering (HCO's director in Cambridge), Solon I. Bailey, William H. Pickering, John S. Paraskevopoulos, and others at the Boyden Station took extensive measurements and thousands of photographs of stars, meteors, comets, novae, clusters, nebulae, planets, and the Milky Way. The glass plate negatives were shipped to the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge for analysis. Eventually, severe weather conditions rendered observations at Arequipa increasingly difficult and in 1927 the Station was moved to Bloemfontein, South Africa.
EARLY CHRONOLOGY
1887
The Harvard College Observatory receives $250,000 from the estate of Uriah A. Boyden, a Boston inventor and engineer, to build an observatory at a high-altitude, favorable to astronomical investigation.
1889-1890
Harvard establishes an auxiliary observatory on the summit of Mount Wilson in southern California.
At the same time, Solon I. Bailey travels to South America to investigate the possibilities of locating an observatory station in the southern hemisphere. He establishes a temporary station on "Mount Harvard" near Chosica, Peru at an altitude of 6,500 feet. In May 1889, he makes his first photometric measurements of southern stars from Mount Harvard.
From November 1889 until March 1890, Bailey and his brother, Marshall, continue to explore Peru and Chile, looking for better sites for a southern station. In May 1890, Bailey selects Arequipa, Peru, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, for the southern station (named Boyden Station).
Mount Harvard is abandoned in October 1890, and its instruments are relocated to Arequipa.
1891
The Arequipa observatory site is formally named the Boyden Station.
SUPERVISORS AT BOYDEN STATION, 1889-1927:
* Solon I. Bailey: January 1, 1889-January 17, 1891
* William H. Pickering: January 17, 1891-February 25, 1893
* Solon I. Bailey: February 25, 1893-March 18, 1905
* William B. Clymer and De Lisle Stewart : Assistant under Bailey: January 1, 1898-March 20, 1899
* Hinman C. Bailey : Assistant under Bailey: December 11, 1899-February 1, 1902
* Royal H. Frost : Assistant under Bailey: February 1, 1902-May 3, 1902
* Royal H. Frost: March 18, 1905-November 1, 1908
* Frank Hinckley: November 1, 1908-June 1, 1911
* Leon Campbell: June 2, 1911-July 11, 1915
* Frank Hinckley: July 11, 1915-April 29, 1917
* Lindall C. Blanchard: May 1, 1917-November 11, 1918
* Juan E. Muniz: November 11, 1918-January 3, 1919
* Frank E. Hinckley: January 3, 1919-September 27, 1920
* Juan E. Muniz: September 27, 1920-March 31, 1922
* Solon I. Bailey: April 4, 1922-December 1, 1923
* John S. Paraskevopoulos: November 1, 1923-1927 (continues as supervisor of the station in South Africa)
PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENTS
13-inch Boyden refractor (with reversible crown lens making it suitable for visual or photographic work, bought from Alvan G. Clark & Sons, 1887)
20-inch reflector bought from A. A. Common
2.5-inch Voigtlander photographic doublet
8-inch Bache telescope with photographic doublet (1885, corrected and mounted by Alvan G. Clark and Sons)
meridian photometer
24-inch Bruce telescope with photographic doublet (Alvan Clark & Sons, 1893)
Under the direction of Edward C. Pickering (HCO's director in Cambridge), Solon I. Bailey, William H. Pickering, John S. Paraskevopoulos, and others at the Boyden Station took extensive measurements and thousands of photographs of stars, meteors, comets, novae, clusters, nebulae, planets, and the Milky Way. The glass plate negatives were shipped to the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge for analysis. Eventually, severe weather conditions rendered observations at Arequipa increasingly difficult and in 1927 the Station was moved to Bloemfontein, South Africa.
EARLY CHRONOLOGY
1887
The Harvard College Observatory receives $250,000 from the estate of Uriah A. Boyden, a Boston inventor and engineer, to build an observatory at a high-altitude, favorable to astronomical investigation.
1889-1890
Harvard establishes an auxiliary observatory on the summit of Mount Wilson in southern California.
At the same time, Solon I. Bailey travels to South America to investigate the possibilities of locating an observatory station in the southern hemisphere. He establishes a temporary station on "Mount Harvard" near Chosica, Peru at an altitude of 6,500 feet. In May 1889, he makes his first photometric measurements of southern stars from Mount Harvard.
From November 1889 until March 1890, Bailey and his brother, Marshall, continue to explore Peru and Chile, looking for better sites for a southern station. In May 1890, Bailey selects Arequipa, Peru, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, for the southern station (named Boyden Station).
Mount Harvard is abandoned in October 1890, and its instruments are relocated to Arequipa.
1891
The Arequipa observatory site is formally named the Boyden Station.
SUPERVISORS AT BOYDEN STATION, 1889-1927:
* Solon I. Bailey: January 1, 1889-January 17, 1891
* William H. Pickering: January 17, 1891-February 25, 1893
* Solon I. Bailey: February 25, 1893-March 18, 1905
* William B. Clymer and De Lisle Stewart : Assistant under Bailey: January 1, 1898-March 20, 1899
* Hinman C. Bailey : Assistant under Bailey: December 11, 1899-February 1, 1902
* Royal H. Frost : Assistant under Bailey: February 1, 1902-May 3, 1902
* Royal H. Frost: March 18, 1905-November 1, 1908
* Frank Hinckley: November 1, 1908-June 1, 1911
* Leon Campbell: June 2, 1911-July 11, 1915
* Frank Hinckley: July 11, 1915-April 29, 1917
* Lindall C. Blanchard: May 1, 1917-November 11, 1918
* Juan E. Muniz: November 11, 1918-January 3, 1919
* Frank E. Hinckley: January 3, 1919-September 27, 1920
* Juan E. Muniz: September 27, 1920-March 31, 1922
* Solon I. Bailey: April 4, 1922-December 1, 1923
* John S. Paraskevopoulos: November 1, 1923-1927 (continues as supervisor of the station in South Africa)
PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENTS
13-inch Boyden refractor (with reversible crown lens making it suitable for visual or photographic work, bought from Alvan G. Clark & Sons, 1887)
20-inch reflector bought from A. A. Common
2.5-inch Voigtlander photographic doublet
8-inch Bache telescope with photographic doublet (1885, corrected and mounted by Alvan G. Clark and Sons)
meridian photometer
24-inch Bruce telescope with photographic doublet (Alvan Clark & Sons, 1893)
Bailey, Solon I. "The Arequipa Station of the Harvard Observatory." <i>Popular Science Monthly</i>, (April, 1904).
Bailey, Solon I. "Astronomy." In <i>The Development of Harvard University since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929</i> (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930).
Bailey, Solon I. "The Harvard Astronomical Observatory in Peru." <i>Harvard Alumni Bulletin</i> 24, no. 21 (February 23, 1922).
Bailey, Solon I. "History of the Expedition." In <i>A Catalogue of 7922 Southern Stars Observed with The Meridian Photometer during the years 1889-91</i>, Annals of The Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College, vol. 34. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1895).
Bailey, Solon I. <i>The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839 to 1927: An Outline of the Origin, Development, and Researchers of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College together with Brief Biographies of Its Leading Members</i> (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1931).
Bailey, Solon I. "The Search for an Ideal Astronomical Site." <i>South African Journal of Science</i>, (February, 1910).
Jones, Bessie Zaban and Lyle Gifford Boyd. <i>The Harvard College Observatory: The First Four Directorships, 1839-1919</i>. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
Bailey, Solon I. "Astronomy." In <i>The Development of Harvard University since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929</i> (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930).
Bailey, Solon I. "The Harvard Astronomical Observatory in Peru." <i>Harvard Alumni Bulletin</i> 24, no. 21 (February 23, 1922).
Bailey, Solon I. "History of the Expedition." In <i>A Catalogue of 7922 Southern Stars Observed with The Meridian Photometer during the years 1889-91</i>, Annals of The Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College, vol. 34. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1895).
Bailey, Solon I. <i>The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839 to 1927: An Outline of the Origin, Development, and Researchers of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College together with Brief Biographies of Its Leading Members</i> (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1931).
Bailey, Solon I. "The Search for an Ideal Astronomical Site." <i>South African Journal of Science</i>, (February, 1910).
Jones, Bessie Zaban and Lyle Gifford Boyd. <i>The Harvard College Observatory: The First Four Directorships, 1839-1919</i>. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
(Much of this information is an excerpt from the finding aid of the Boyden Station papers at Harvard University Archives) For more details and events, visit :Harvard College Observatory. Records of Boyden Station, Arequipa, Peru, 1888-1927 : an inventory," Harvard University Library, http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04008 (accessed 08/27/2014)
The papers of the Boyden Station in Arequipa, Peru, are in the Harvard University Archives. A finding aid can be accessed <a href="http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04008" target="_blank">here</a>.