Pittsburgh's Original Buhl Planetarium:
Public Science Education Pioneer

For the Ohio State Meeting of the
Great Lakes Planetarium Society

Saturday, October 13, 2001, 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time
North Hills High School Planetarium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Buhl Planetarium building

Zeiss II Planetarium Projector --

Small image during sky show

Large image during sky show

Image after sky show

Image in elevator pit, with Westinghouse "worm-gear" elevator

10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope in 1941

Building Exterior --

"Primitive Science" and "Modern Science" copper-clad sculptures over Buhl entrance

"The Heavens" sculpture on front of building

"The Earth" sculture on front of building, with Carnegie Library clocktower behind

"Day" sculture over east entrance(Hall of the Universe)

"NIght" sculpture over west entrance(Lecture Hall--"Little Science Theater")

Inscription on east wall

Inscription on west wall

Names of famous scientists, such as Ptolemy and Hipparchus, inscribed below dome

1950s view of building--before construction of Allegheny Center complex

1937 view of Diamond Square with Allegheny City Hall and Carnegie Library

Rear view of Allegheny City Hall, showing Boggs and Buhl Department Store and Carnegie Library clocktower

October, 1938 view of construction of Buhl Planetarium

Buhl Exhibits --

Rand McNally World Globe--transferred to Carnegie Science Center(not currently on display)

746-Pound Meteorite, fifth largest fragment from Barringer Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona--transferred to Carnegie Science Center

4-inch Brashear Refractor Telescope--transferred to Carnegie Science Center:

Telescope close-up

Classic Astronomy "push-button" animated exhibits--Hall of the Universe --

Tycho Brahe's Mural Quadrant

First great observatory after invention of telescope: Johannes Hevelius