High School Library Research Paper

Many Mizzou students are surprised to hear that the campus is home to an observatory. In fact, the observatory has been serving Mizzou students for over 100 years. The observatory is named after university president Samuel Laws, who personally donated $2,000 to help finance the new observatory for the university. The observatory has had multiple locations on campus before reaching its current spot on top of the Physics Building shortly after its 1964 construction. Galileo Galilei is widely credited with popularizing the astronomical telescope by being “the first to point to the sky” in the early 1600s. In general, the larger the telescope is, the more light you can collect to see farther into the cosmos. The Laws Observatory is equipped with a telescope that has a lens measuring 16 inches in diameter. In comparison, the largest telescope in the world currently has a lens over 10 meters wide. Modern observatories do not use domes because they have …show more content…
The telescope serves as a valuable tool to educate the public about astronomy. Dr. Speck believes that astronomy is exciting and serves as a “gateway science” in which people may discover that they enjoy science and further pursue it. Dr. Speck also notes that astronomy, more than any other science, is almost entirely publicly funded and it is “important to convey to people why they should pay for that.” Dr. Speck has made community outreach an important part of her job. Elementary school students from around the region visit the observatory to learn about astronomy and look through thermal telescopes to view the sun. Every October the department hosts a “Haunted Observatory” event, in which children dress as Hogwarts characters and speak to volunteers dressed as dead astronomers. One thing everyone can be excited about is that on the 21st of next August, Columbia will be one of the best cities in the nation to view a total solar