Such great heights

Astronomer Sherburne W. Burnham, who cataloged 13,665 star systems, works at the Yerkes Observatory’s 40-inch Great Refractor telescope around the time of the observatory’s 1897 dedication. (Photography by Edward Barnard, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf6-01289, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Brought to light

This 1916 gathering of staff members at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, WI, includes three UChicago alumnae. Though their contributions are often eclipsed, women were at the heart of astronomy and astrophysics advancements at Yerkes Observatory in the early 20th century. An exhibition of materials from the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center highlights their voices and research. Capturing the Stars: The Untold History of Women at Yerkes Observatory is on view until December 15 and online. Back row from left: Helen N. Davis, Max Petersen, Clifford Crump, and Frances Allen. Front row from left: Evelyn (Wickham) Hale, SM 1917; Harriet (Parsons) Hall, SM 1916, PhD’21; Anne S. Young; Alice Hall Farnsworth, PhD 1920; and Inez Wendell. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf6-00399, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

New Cobb smell

A College seminar takes place in a remodeled Cobb Hall classroom in 1956. The oldest building on campus, Cobb (built in 1892) was a priority in a larger midcentury campus construction and renovation project that coincided with the beginning of the University’s urban renewal project along 55th Street and its expansion south of the Midway. The year after this photo was taken, construction began on the Law School’s new building. (Photography by William M. Rittase, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf4-01931, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

End zone play

Fans (or detractors?) tear down the goalposts in 1969 after the varsity football team’s first Division III home game since the program’s dissolution 30 years before. The Maroons beat North Central College 12–0. The downed goalposts were deposited on University president Edward Levi’s (LAB’28, PhB’32, JD’35) front lawn. Did you witness the revival of the football program? What reading material did you bring to games? Give us something good to peruse: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by David Travis, AB’71; Copyright 2023, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

Opera renaissance

In the early 1970s James H. Moore, on the music faculty at UChicago from 1976 to 1984, plays viola da gamba for a recording of Marco da Gagliano’s La Dafne (1608). Moore published a critical edition of the early Italian opera in 1972. In 1975 ABC Records released a recording of the opera on its Command label based on Moore’s edition; Moore received a Grammy nomination for best album notes for this record. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00929, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Laser focus

Barbara Schubert, EX’79, leads the University Symphony Orchestra, circa 1980. Now senior lecturer in music and director of the performance program, Shubert has been the group’s conductor since 1976. She received a Janel M. Mueller Award for Excellence in Pedagogy in 2016. Did you play with the University Symphony Orchestra or study with Schubert? Share your symphonic stories with us at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by Dan Coyro; Copyright 2023, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

Archival image

Special Collections staff members pose for a group portrait in 1990. From left standing: Dan Galligan; Kim Coventry; Roger Bertschausen, MDiv’90; Stephen Duffy, AM’76; Richard L. Popp, AM’81; and Kevin Schilbrack, AM’89, PhD’95. From left seated: Dan Meyer, AM’75, PhD’94; Samantha Reynolds, EX’92; Catherine MacCormack, AB’92; Debra Henning, AM’96; Valarie Brocato; and George Reisch, SM’90, PhD’95. Did you plumb the archives during your University days? Let us know what pages you pored over at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-05514, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Cheers to Greer

In Professor Lothar Meyer’s low-temperature physics lab in the James Franck Institute’s basement, Sandra Greer, SM’68, PhD’69, celebrates the successful defense of her dissertation, “Binary Phase Diagrams of Van Der Waals’ Solids.” Read our interview with Greer, “If You Can’t Stand the Heat …,” and tell us how you recovered after your dissertation defense at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by William L. Greer, PhD’69)