Question: A solar eclipse will take place Monday, Aug. 21, and the St. Louis region, including the WashU campus, should be a great place to observe it. The university has a long tradition of monitoring eclipses. Which professor led an eclipse-viewing expedition to California in 1889?
Answer: C) Henry S. Pritchett, who served as the director of the university’s observatory, led a team of astronomers to the Sacramento Valley to observe a total solar eclipse on New Year’s Day, 1889.
The eclipse was total across a broad swath of the Western United States, but the partial eclipse in St. Louis also was observed by professors at the campus observatory, then located in downtown St. Louis. Pritchett and his team had to borrow some of the equipment they needed to carry out their work, including a Dallmeyer camera from the U.S. Naval Observatory. Pritchett and his colleagues published their work in a report titled “The Total Eclipse of The Sun, January 1, 1889.”
Congrats to this week’s winner, Maria West, of the Program in Physical Therapy at the School of Medicine. West will receive an “I Knew WashU” luggage tag!