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32-479: Leander McCormick was the son of Robert McCormick (1780–1846), the inventor of a mechanical reaper , and brother of Cyrus H. McCormick , who patented it and undertook the large scale manufacture and marketing of the invention. The McCormick family 's homestead of Walnut Grove was located near Raphine , Virginia, although they moved to Chicago in 1848 to manufacture the reaper on a large scale. In Chicago, Cyrus, Leander and their brother William founded what became

64-672: A PhD from the University of Groningen . Van de Kamp returned to McCormick on October 1, 1925, to take up the position left vacant by Harold Alden , who had just taken up the directorship of the Yale University Observatory Southern Station in Johannesburg , South Africa. In the spring of 1937, Van de Kamp left McCormick Observatory to take over as director of Swarthmore College 's Sproul Observatory . One of his early pupils in astrometry

96-522: A blacksmith's bellows and a hill-side plow . By 1831, he had completed a reaper. He was encouraged by Polly to give it to their assertive and business-minded son Cyrus , who was able to improve and patent it in 1834 and establish the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company which led to the great wealth the family accumulated. On February 11, 1808, McCormick was married to Mary Ann McChesney "Polly" Hall (1780–1853),

128-566: A daughter of Patrick Hall and Susan (née McChesney) Hall, and was granted ownership of Walnut Grove, the family estate, in 1810. Together, Robert and Polly were the parents of eight children: He died on July 4, 1846. He and his wife were buried in the cemetery of the Old Providence Stone Church just north of the estate. In 2002, Robert Jr. and his three surviving sons had a variety of wheat named after them, for "inventing, perfecting, manufacturing, and marketing of

160-528: A donation of $ 18,000 for the observatory itself, contingent on the University's raising the funds to endow the professorship. The 65 cm refracting telescope was made by Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridgeport , Massachusetts , who were regarded as the finest telescope makers of the age. At the time it was the equal largest telescope in the United States, and the second largest refractor in

192-510: Is now known to be false. On November 14, 2018, the Red Dots project announced that Barnard's star hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth, though this does not match either of the planets he had claimed. In 2021, even this planet's existence was questioned. Van de Kamp was the son of Lubbertus van de Kamp, who had an administrative job at a cigar factory, and Engelina C.A. van der Wal. His younger brother Jacob van de Kamp

224-779: The Draper Fund of the National Academy of Sciences . There he assisted Samuel Alfred Mitchell with his extensive stellar parallax program and Harold Alden with the lengthy Boss star project. The following year Van de Kamp went to the Lick Observatory in California as a Kellogg fellow. There he received his PhD from the University of California in Astronomy in June 1925. The next year he also received

256-548: The Milky Way . While at Sproul Observatory , he made astrometric measurements of Barnard's Star and in the 1960s reported a periodic "wobble" in its motion, apparently due to planetary companions . It was not until several decades had passed that a consensus had formed that this had been a spurious detection. In 1973 astronomers George Gatewood of the Allegheny Observatory and Heinrich Eichhorn of

288-485: The University of Florida , using data obtained with improved equipment on the 30-inch Thaw Refractor telescope, did not detect any planets but instead detected a change in the color-dependent image scale of the images obtained from the 24-inch refractor telescope at the Sproul Observatory used by Van de Kamp in his study. Astronomer John L. Hershey found that this anomaly apparently occurred after each time

320-470: The objective lens was removed, cleaned, and replaced. Hundreds more stars showed "wobbles" like Barnard's Star 's when photographs before and after cleaning were compared – a virtual impossibility. Wulff Heintz , Van de Kamp's successor at Swarthmore and an expert on double stars , questioned his findings and began publishing criticisms from 1976 onwards; the two are reported to have become estranged because of this. Van de Kamp never admitted that his claim

352-630: The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and eventually International Harvester . In 1870 Leander decided to donate the largest telescope in the world to his home state of Virginia. However, the financial impact of the American Civil War on Virginia as well as the impact of the Great Chicago Fire on his own finances, delayed his effort. In addition to the University of Virginia, for years he

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384-476: The McCormick Refractor. Peter van de Kamp , Alexander N. Vyssotsky , Emma T. R. Williams and Dirk Reuyl also carried out research on the number and types of stars seen in different directions, and from this deduced information about the size and shape of the Milky Way . The Observatory is now used primarily for teaching and public outreach, and contains a museum of the history of astronomy at

416-649: The Observatory, before the telescope was even complete, was of the Transit of Venus on December 6, 1882. Observations were made at the site of the observatory as well as at the Rotunda of the University of Virginia. Under the first director, Ormond Stone , a program to measure the positions of southern stars was carried out (an extension on the Durchmusterung star catalogue to -23 degrees). In addition,

448-459: The United States, was a Dutch astronomer who lived in the United States most of his life. He was professor of astronomy at Swarthmore College and director of the college's Sproul Observatory from 1937 until 1972. He specialized in astrometry , studying parallax and proper motions of stars. He came to public attention in the 1960s when he announced that Barnard's star had a planetary system based on observed "wobbles" in its motion, but this

480-734: The University of Virginia. The observational research of the Astronomy Department is carried out at Fan Mountain Observatory , and at other observatories. Since the 1880s, daily weather observations have been taken at McCormick Observatory, and it has been part of the National Weather Service 's Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) since the program's inception in 1890. The telescope is the largest Alvan Clark refractor still mounted on its original Alvan Clark mount. Robert McCormick (Virginia inventor) Robert Hall McCormick (June 8, 1780 – July 4, 1846)

512-473: The discovery observations were made by Asaph Hall with the Naval Observatory refractor. The telescope and building were completed in 1884, and dedicated on April 13, 1885, Thomas Jefferson 's birthday. The dome, at 45 feet, was the largest in the world when completed; it was designed by Warner and Swasey with a unique three shutter design. The first published observations to be carried out at

544-421: The farm who grew up helping in the shop and the mill. He frequently busied himself with small gadgets and inventions around the farm. By 1809, McCormick had constructed a partially completed reaper . He eventually decided to formalize some of his work when he applied for a patent in 1830 for a "hemp-break", a device for breaking hemp and flax . He also produced a threshing machine, a clover sheller of stone,

576-590: The mechanical grain reaper [which] ushered in the era of modern agriculture and wrought one of the greatest advancements in agricultural history." McCormick is a soft red winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L. ) developed and released in May 2002 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. Bundled references Peter van de Kamp Piet van de Kamp (December 26, 1901 – May 18, 1995), known as Peter van de Kamp in

608-438: The orbits of southern double stars were measured and southern nebulae were observed. Starting in 1914 the second director, Samuel Alfred Mitchell , began a program to measure the distances to nearby stars ( stellar parallax ) using photography. This program continued under the next two directors, Harold Alden and Laurence Fredrick; over the course of more than 80 years, the distances to thousands of stars have been determined with

640-667: The recent discoveries of numerous planetary systems, the idea that planetary systems are common—of which throughout his life Van de Kamp was a strong promoter—is being gradually proven correct. Van de Kamp was a talented musician, playing piano, viola, and violin, only forgoing a musical career in his youth because he considered this more difficult to achieve than a career in astronomy. He helped to organize an orchestra in Charlottesville , which he conducted and included fellow astronomer Alexander Vyssotsky . He also composed music for orchestra as well as for piano. From 1944 to 1954 he

672-403: The star than the habitable zone . However, the indicated masses of the planets are again far below those capable of detection by Van de Kamp. From the 1940s on Van de Kamp and his staff made similar claims of planetary systems around the nearby stars Lalande 21185 , 61 Cygni , and many others, based on the same flawed photographic plates. All of these claims have been refuted. However, with

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704-419: The state. It was largely through the efforts of Charles Scott Venable ( aide-de-camp to Gen. Robert E. Lee from 1862 to 1865 and professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia from 1865 to 1896) that McCormick finally decided to make his gift to the University of Virginia in 1877. In 1878, the University of Virginia officially received McCormick's donation of the telescope. This was followed in 1881 by

736-581: The world when completed. It was nearly a twin of the earlier 26-inch refractor at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. However, the Clarks made some adjustments to the lens to improve the image quality over that of the Naval Observatory refractor. In 1877 while the McCormick Refractor was still in Cambridgeport, Alvan Clark used it to verify the discovery of the moons of Mars the night after

768-431: Was Nancy Grace Roman , who went on to become NASA's first Chief of Astronomy. His work consisted of assisting with the parallax program and continuing the proper motion work that he and Alden had begun. Van de Kamp and Alexander N. Vyssotsky spent eight years measuring 18,000 proper motions. He did additional, smaller projects individually, including an investigation for general and selective absorption of light within

800-635: Was also a successful scientist: an organic chemist, who spent most of his career in the United States. Van de Kamp studied at the University of Utrecht and started his professional career at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen working with Pieter Johannes van Rhijn . In 1923 he left for the Leander McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia for a year's residence supported by

832-533: Was also considering Washington College (later Washington and Lee University ) in Lexington, Virginia , since it was located much closer to the family homestead. In 1870, Robert E. Lee, who was then president of Washington College, sent a letter of introduction to Joseph Henry , secretary of the Smithsonian Institution , making known McCormick's wishes to establish an astronomical observatory in

864-592: Was an American inventor who invented numerous devices including a version of the reaper which his eldest son Cyrus McCormick patented in 1834 and became the foundation of the International Harvester Company. Although he lived his life in rural Virginia , he was patriarch of the McCormick family that became influential throughout the world, especially in large cities such as Chicago , Washington, D.C. , and New York City . McCormick

896-1153: Was born June 8, 1780, on the family estate of Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia , in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains . His parents were Revolutionary War veteran Robert McCormick Sr. and Martha ( née Sanderson) McCormick. Robert Jr. had five elder siblings: George, Martha, Elizabeth, William, and James. McCormick's maternal grandparents were Scottish immigrants, George Sanderson and Catharine (née Ross) Sanderson. His paternal grandparents were Thomas (1702–1762) and Elizabeth ( née Carruth) McCormick, Presbyterian immigrants born in County Londonderry and County Antrim , Ireland respectively who married in 1728 and settled in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1735. McCormick and his wife Polly raised their eight children on

928-596: Was conductor of the Swarthmore College Symphony Orchestra. He combined his musical gifts with another hobby, movies, by playing silent films on Swarthmore campus and accompanying them on the piano. At Swarthmore Van de Kamp performed with Peter Schickele , and made several films of Schickele's student performance, while on the occasion of his 70th birthday Schickele wrote a piano piece for him called The Easy Goin' P. v. d. K. Ever Lovin' Rag . Van de Kamp said that his fondest musical memory

960-421: Was in error and continued to publish papers about a planetary system around Barnard's Star into the 1980s, while modern radial velocity curves place a limit on the planets much smaller than claimed by Van de Kamp. A study in 2018 suggested that there was a planet orbiting Barnard's Star ( Barnard's Star b ), albeit of much lower mass than Van de Kamp could have detected; however, the existence of this planet too

992-659: Was playing chamber music with Albert Einstein , on the evening before the latter's commencement address at Swarthmore College in 1938. In 1972 he retired from Swarthmore and returned to the Netherlands, where he became Fulbright Professor to the University of Amsterdam . He died in suburban Amsterdam May 18, 1995, at the age of 93. In 1965 he was awarded the Rittenhouse Medal by the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society. In 1982 he

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1024-526: Was questioned in 2021. In August 2024, by using data from ESPRESSO spectrograph of the Very Large Telescope , the existence of an exoplanet with a minimum mass of 0.37 ± 0.05  M 🜨 and orbital period of 3.15 days was confirmed. This constituted the first convincing evidence for a planet orbiting Barnard's Star. Additionally, three other candidate low-mass planets were proposed in this study. All of these planets orbit closer to

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