Inventory of City of Pittsburgh Assets,

Originated at The Buhl Planetarium and

Institute of Popular Science,

Moved to The Carnegie Science Center

2005 June 30

The following is an inventory of assets, originated at The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science. These assets were moved to The Carnegie Science Center in 1991, 1994, or 2002. On the date of dedication of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, 1939 October 24, the Buhl Foundation conveyed and donated the Buhl Planetarium building, and all contents of the building, to the City of Pittsburgh. Hence, everything that was in the Buhl Planetarium building, on the date of dedication, became the legal property of the City of Pittsburgh, including the following listed assets.

Assets Transferred Under Terms of Three Memoranda of Understanding Dated 2002 October 25 – Dismantled and placed in storage in The Carnegie Science Center’s Miller Building Warehouse:

1) Zeiss II Planetarium Projector – Prior to dismantling, oldest operable major planetarium projector in the world !

2) Planetarium Projector Control Console

3) 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope – Prior to dismantling, second largest Siderostat Telescope in operation in world !

4) Mercator’s Projection Map of the World – When first assembled for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, it was considered the largest such map in the world !

Assets Moved to The Carnegie Science Center in 1991 or 1994:

1) 4-Inch Zeiss Terrestrial Refractor Telescope (Currently used during “Observatory SkyWatch” sessions, usually on clear Saturday evenings, on the fifth floor of The Carnegie Science Center) --Buhl Planetarium’s very first telescope. Has unique history, due to purchase just prior to onset of World War II. Terrestrial Refractor Telescope was sent to Pittsburgh by mistake; Buhl Planetarium had ordered an Astronomical Refractor Telescope. However, due to beginning of World War II, it was not possible to return telescope to Carl Zeiss Optical Works in Jena, Germany for replacement.

2) Meteorites -- 746-Pound (340 kg) Iron-Nickel Meteorite, Fifth largest fragment (Currently on public display near the entrance of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium, Carnegie Science Center) from the Barringer Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona. Other meteorites of iron or stone (smaller than the 746-pound Meteorite), including two large fragments (including one 35-pound iron meteorite) from Barringer Meteor Crater were placed in storage, after being displayed for decades in the Hall of the Universe of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science.

3) Van de Graaff Electrostatic Generator (and brass railing which previously encircled generator) --

Medium-sized model (not large Van de Graaff purchased in the late 1980s)

( More )

City Assets from Buhl Planetarium 2005 June 30 Page 2 of 2

4) Buhl Planetarium’s Hall of the Universe included twenty-one classic, "push-button" display case exhibits (Astronomy: eighteen exhibits; Meteorology: three exhibits). The following five Astronomy exhibits are documented as being in Buhl Planetarium’ s, originally-titled, Hall of Astronomy, on the date of building dedication:

a) Stars do Move – Demonstrating precession, with changes in the star configuration of the Big Dipper over 200,000 years of time as an example.

b) Twin Stars – Showing movement of a binary star system.

c) Light Takes Time to Travel – Regarding the speed of light.

d) Tycho Brahe’s Mural Quadrant - Animated Diorama of Tycho Brahe's Observatory in Uraniborg, Denmark.

e) Observatory of Hevelius at Danzig - Animated Diorama of Johannes Hevelius' Observatory in Danzig, Poland.

5) Eight Astronomical Paintings by Pennsylvania artist and architect Daniel Owen Stephens:

a) The Dragon

b) A Perspective in Time

c) Orion and Taurus the Bull

d) The Old Astronomer (A photograph of this painting has been published in Astronomy textbooks, as well as in a 1961 black-and-white filmstrip for schools called "The Race for Space.")

e) Cygnus the Swan

f) Nine Planets and A Million Suns

g) The Great Bear

h) Copernicus (Portrait of Polish Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus. Commissioned by the Polish Arts League of Pittsburgh; donated for Buhl Planetarium.)

6) Two Portraits of Henry Buhl, Jr.

7) Portrait of Louise Buhl, wife of Henry Buhl, Jr.

8) Fairbanks-Morse Planetary Weight Scale (Currently in public use near the entrance of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium, Carnegie Science Center) -- Displays person's weight for the planets Earth, Venus, Mars, and the Moon.

9) *Four Toledo Planetary Weight Scales: Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter.

10) *Planetarium and Lecture Hall Sound Equipment

*Items with an asterisk [*] indicate that these pieces of equipment or artifacts were in the building on the day of dedication, and hence, are City property. However, these specific items are not the original equipment, but replacements for the original City-owned equipment; apparently, Buhl Planetarium management deemed it necessary to replace this original equipment. Since this replacement equipment was deemed necessary for continued operation of the institution [and, in the case of the Planetarium and Lecture Hall sound equipment, was absolutely essential!], this replacement equipment is City property.

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