Instruction in astronomy commenced in 1892 as an offering of the Mathematics Department. In August 1921, the Board of Trustees authorized that the Division of Astronomy in the Department of Mathematics be organized as a separate Department of Astronomy. In 1957, the Department began a program of cooperative investigation with the United States Office of Naval Research and, in 1962, the radio telescope site at Vermilion River Observatory was completed. The courses offered range from descriptive astronomy to aeronomy, with B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees offered.
College and Departmental Archives
- Observatory History (Record Series 15/3/12): Various materials relating to the development of astronomy and the construction of observatories
- Glass Slides (Record Series 15/3/13): Slides and logbooks documenting observations of unique phenomena and objects
Faculty Papers
- George C. McVittie Papers (Record Series 15/3/20): Head of Astronomy department and professor (1952-72)
- Joel Stebbins Papers (Record Series 15/3/21): research on selenium photoelectric cells
- Hélène R. Dickel Papers (Record Series 15/3/22): concerns star-forming regions, supernova remnants, radio astronomy, observations at the Very Large Array (VLA) radio interferometer
- Sidney Rosen Papers (Record Series 15/3/23): scientific committees and associations
- Larry Smarr Papers (Record Series 15/3/24): National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), black holes, astronomical topics, and supercomputing