Posted on 07/30/2007 4:07:10 PM PDT by KevinDavis
FLAGSTAFF — The University of Arizona and the state's space prowess, both in astronomy and in NASA's manned and robotic missions, began in the high pines above this mountain town 113 years ago.
In 1894, wealthy citizen scientist Percival Lowell sent his man Andrew Ellicott Douglass west from Boston to scope out the best Arizona site for an astronomical observatory. Douglass traversed the state by train and horse-drawn wagon, dragging a pair of coffin-sized crates holding Lowell's telescope to high spots in Tempe (that rock pile behind Arizona State University's stadium), Tucson ("A" Mountain) and Tombstone (site unknown).
He ultimately chose Flagstaff, but Tucson didn't really lose out; Douglass eventually came to the UA and founded the Steward Observatory and the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research — ground zero for the work that resulted in today's climate-change furor.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
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