Lick Observatory commemorates 200th anniversary of James Lick's birth

Of all the legacies of the eccentric businessman and land baron James Lick, born August 25, 1796, none has endured like the observatory near San Jose that bears his name. If Lick had heard a recent celebration from his crypt beneath the observatory's original telescope, he would have been pleased to learn how his bequest has expanded our knowledge of the universe--even if the buildings aren't as grand as the colossal statues and pyramid he had envisioned as monuments to himself in downtown San Francisco.

Friends of the Lick Observatory marked the 200th anniversary of Lick's birth on August 25 with a special edition of "Music of the Spheres," a summer concert series on Mount Hamilton. Lick's great-grandniece, Paquita Lick Machris, commissioned a bronze bust of Lick for the occasion. Observatory personnel unveiled the bust and a new plaque describing Lick's achievements and philanthropic deeds.

Proceeds will help finance renovations inside the historic dome enclosing the Lick 36-inch telescope, which first cast its eye on the sky in 1888. Architects have designed new railings and exits to bring the structure in line with current safety codes.

The event featured music by the Smith and Gail Dobson Quartet and a science lecture by observatory director Joseph Miller of UCSC, which operates Lick Observatory. Past director Donald Osterbrock of UCSC and Dorothy Schaumberg, curator of the observatory's Mary Lea Shane Archives at McHenry Library, gave historical talks.

Schaumberg focused much of her talk on James Lick himself. As Lick neared the end of his life in the 1870s, scientists convinced him that an observatory housing the world's largest telescope would perpetuate his name through science, much as the Smithsonian Institution had for James Smithson. They also assured him that building the facility on top of a mountain, which astronomers had never done, would lead to stunning results.

Lick chose Mount Hamilton over sites in the Sierra Nevada and near Napa Valley. Although he could see Mount Hamilton from his Santa Clara Valley property, he didn't journey to the summit until his reinterment there in 1887, more than ten years after his death.

Osterbrock reviewed three of the many noteworthy contributions to astronomy from Lick Observatory's history--including the current efforts at Lick's main research instrument, the 120-inch Shane Telescope, to detect planets outside our solar system. This work, which has made headlines worldwide, was done and is being continued by Geoffrey Marcy and Paul Butler of San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley.

Marcy, who earned his Ph.D. at UCSC, uses an exquisitely sensitive tool designed by his former adviser, UCSC astronomer Steven Vogt. The instrument, called the Hamilton Spectrograph, unveils tiny "wobbles" in the motions of stars across the sky--hints of the gravitational tuggings of unseen planets. Marcy and Butler have thus far announced six planets spotted in this way.

-ROBERT IRION

9/96