Timeline of Significant Dates in the History of the Observatory
1796: Father James Curley, S.J. is born in Ireland on October 25
1825: Father Curley comes to Georgetown as professor of natural philosophy
1835, January 1: Father Curley begins keeping a daily weather record. He stops on March 1, 1888, one month before his death
1841: Father Curley founds the Observatory
1843: Building is completed
1844: First instruments arrive from Ertel and Son of Munich
1848: Italian astronomers Father Benedict Sestini, S.J. and Angelo Secchi, S.J. arrive at Georgetown
1850: Father Sestini makes a series of sunspot drawings between September 20 and November 6
1852: First Anals of the Observatory, a quarto volume of 250 pages containing a description of the Observatory is published
1854: Father Curley becomes a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
1859: Stone pier erected for the equatorial telescope
1886: Father S. H. Fresebie, S.J. is appointed director
1888: Father John Hagen, S.J. is appointed director
1889, July 24: Father Curley dies
1890: Father George A. Fargis, S.J. is appointed as assistant to the Director
1893, March: New twelve-inch equatorial telescope installed
1889: First photographs taken with the equatorial telescope
1914: Father P. Archer, S.J. is appointed director
1923: Father J.L. Gipprich, S.J. is appointed director
1925: Father Edward C. Phillips, S.J. is appointed director
1928: Father Paul A. McNally, S.J. becomes director
1930: New photographic telescope is ordered from Fecker Co. of Pittsburg
1932: Father McNally leads the Observatory's first scientific expedition to Fryeburg, Maine to study a total solar eclipse
1936: Father McNally direct a team of astronomers who travel to Orenburg, Russia to study a total solar eclipse
1937: Father McNally travels to Canton Island in the South Pacific as a member of the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Navy eclipse expedition
1940: Father McNally travels to Patos, Brazil as a member of the National Geographic Society-National Bureau of Standards eclipse expedition
1948: Father Francis J. Heyden, S.J. becomes director
1952: Father Heyden travels to Sudan to study a total solar eclipse
1954: Team of Georgetown astronomers travels to Iran to study a total solar eclipse
1971: Georgetown’s Astronomy Department closes
1972: Georgetown University Astronomical Society is founded
1973: Observatory building is designated as an historic landmark
1987, November 6: Observatory and gardens are dedicated to Fr. Francis J. Heyden
