[getsmart-l] Rally on Sat Feb 9 for Dunlap Observatory, a slice of history & beauty

[Gloria Boxen]

Feb 9th Community Rally for David Dunlap Observatory

 On Saturday, February 9th at noon, members of the Richmond Hill Naturalists,  will join fellow citizens in a march to David Dunlap Observatory. With signs and  singing and a symbolic march to the Dome, the group will ask the University to  cancel or postpone the sale of the Observatory lands so that the Town of  Richmond Hill, York Region, and the Ontario and Federal governments can work  together to preserve the Observatory and the property upon which it sits.


 In November 2007, the University of Toronto put the 190-acre Dunlap property,  including the observatory and administration buildings, up for sale through a  bidding process. The University is accepting bids until February 15th, 2008. 


 I More than 2000 people  have registered memories and  comments on the DDO through an Online  Petition.


 The February 9th rally is an opportunity to  show support for the continued operation and preservation of the David  Dunlap Observatory and Park.
    Date: Saturday February 9,    2008
Time: Noon
Meeting    place: Hillsview Drive and Bayview  Avenue

The Wow factor is big here.  

Leave the city behind and discover a world of beauty, science, and nature. The  Dunlap Observatory and Park is a breathtaking treasure.  A curving tree-lined driveway opens up to reveal the distinctive white Observatory dome and the stately administration building, the work of noted architectual firm,  Mathers and Haldenby*.   Enter its elegant library to be immediately transported to the gracious world of benefactor Jessie Dunlap.  If you are lucky, Observatory staff may offer you tea. Gaze through the open Observatory dome and understand why generations of students have been inspired to study astronomy.  Here is where Dr. Clarence Chant, father of Canadian astronomy, started it on its upward trajectory in the study of the heavens.  Helen Hogg spent endless, uncomfortable evenings in her painstaking study of star clusters. This is the very spot where Dr. Tom Bolton verified the existence of black holes, predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity.   Here Bolton continues
 with students and international visiting scientists to produce valuable research, some of it for NASA.

The site presents a slice through Ontario history.  The  beautiful Elms Lea, is the pre-Confederation (1864) home of Alexander Marsh.  The assistant directory of astronomy and astrophysics now resides there.  Dr. Chant moved in on his 70th birthday, the opening of the DDO and lived there until  his death in 1956. The original home was built on the promontory where the Observatory buildings now stand.  Alexander Marsh participated in the 1837 Mackenzie Uprising to overthrow the rule of the Family Compact. I have heard that his property was a staging point for the Rebellion but haven't verified the fact.   The heritage consultant, Andre Scheinman,  indicated that it is likely that the  grounds was a campsite for natives.   The remaining original farm field is located in the northeast corner. Scheinman's report is contained at  http://www.richmondhill.ca/documents/meetings/council/1_28_2008_19_30/item%208.0.pdf 

The Observatory is linked to the early history of Ontario's mining of precious metals.  The wealth that built the DDO came from lawyer David Dunlap's founding partnership in Hollinger Gold Mines.    Hollinger Gold Mines eventually became Hollinger Inc. under Conrad Black.
http://www.halloffame.mining.ca/halloffame/english/bios/timmins-n.html
http://www.hollinger.com/corporate.htm.  Alchemy turned gold into precious science.  Now the U of T wants to turn a sparkling gem into just ordinary development.

A walk through the grounds reveal a variety of landscapes, groomed lawns around the buildings, meadows, areas of tree plantings, renaturalized bush, and a wetland containing  distinctive environmental features and curiosities.  At the southeast bottom of the property there is evidence of the part of the German Mills Creek that ran through until recent diversion and underground channelling beside Bayview Ave.  Scramble through brush and you will come upon  the sprawling roots of yellow birch above the soggy ground. Along the way, you will pass the shell of a tree trunk filled with woodpeckers' holes, another tree trunk covered with plates of fungus growth.   If you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of a deer or stumble on a cayote pup.   Scan the trees and you will find a distinctive line traced by the  trees - below which is free of leafed branches they having been nibbled away by the deer.  Some trunks bear the rubbed marks of their antlers.  

To get the sense of calm that pervades the property  see pictures at  
http://flickr.com/photos/penopticon/
 Here are some examples from pages 4 & 5.


                                      

                  © All rights reserved.         


                                      

      DDO forest - taken by Deb Chute     
                DDO greenery around the dome - taken by Deb Chute     
                
     
                                 
                  © All rights reserved.    
     Uploaded on Oct 6, 2007  
     
            
    
                             

 
                                      


                                      

Picture above of Elms Lea taken about 1978

*http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/informationfor/alumni/distinction/alpha/mathers.htm
 Mathers - Alvan Sherlock Mathers (1895-1965) took a leading role in the design of many of Canada’s outstanding buildings, some of which comprise Toronto’s current skyline. His partnership with Eric Haldenby produced many building designs, which earned prestigious honours and awards.
 
 Several University of Toronto buildings, including the Best Institute, Sigmund Samuel Library and Whitney Hall were the result of Mr. Mather’s design efforts, as were the United States Consulates in Toronto and Quebec City.

http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/informationfor/alumni/distinction/alpha/Haldenby.htm
Haldenby - the firm of Mathers and Haldenby, which earned national and international attention for excellence. The buildings of the Head Offices of Imperial Oil, Bank of Nova Scotia and the Globe and Mail rose to improve the Toronto skyline. He designed the Sir James Dunn Science Building for Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/ddo.rasc.html
Though it bears the  name of the late David Dunlap, a wealthy lawyer and mining entrepreneur,  the observatory is as much the legacy of Dr. Clarence Chant (1865-1956).  Referred to by many as "the father of Canadian astronomy," Dr. Chant is  best known for his contributions to astronomy education in Canada. He  was a central figure in establishing the Department of Astronomy at the  University of Toronto, introducing optional astronomy courses to the  mathematics and physics curriculum in 1905. Chant was the faculty's  sole astronomer until 1924, when one of his former pupils, Dr. Reynold  K. Young, joined the department. Over the next ten years, Chant focused  his remarkable energy on the establishment of the Dunlap Observatory,  retiring upon its completion.

http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/history.html
A short history of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and David Dunlap Observatory

http://www.cascaeducation.ca/files/canadianContributions.html
Canadian Contributions to astronomy and astrophysics

http://www.rhnaturalists.ca/blog/category/save-david-dunlap-observatory/

Links
http://www.savetheddo.org/page1.php
http://www.savetheddo.org/page5.php

The David Dunlap Observatory and Park is not just of importance to  Richmond Hill and Ontario, but to Canada, and internationally.

Gloria Boxen 
                                         
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