The Astronomers Monument in front of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California is a New Deal artwork created under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project. The large outdoor concrete sculpture honors the work of six great astronomers and is a Griffith Park landmark in its own right.
The Astronomers Monument pays homage to six of the greatest astronomers of all time: Hipparchus (fl. 150 BC), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), Isaac Newton (1642–1727), and William Herschel (1738–1822).
In December 1933, the Los Angeles Park Commission and the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned a sculpture project for the grounds of the under-construction Griffith Observatory. Using a design by local artist Archibald Garner and materials donated by the Women's Auxiliary of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, six artists—Garner, Roger Noble Burnham (creator of USC's Tommy Trojan), Djey El Djey (1905-1980, real name Djey Owens), Gordon Newell (1905–1998), [1] George Stanley (creator of the famous Oscar statuette presented at the Academy Awards), and Arnold Foerster (1878–1943)—sculpted and cast the concrete monument and figures. [2] Each artist was responsible for sculpting one astronomer: Stanley did Newton, [3] Garner sculpted Copernicus, [4] Newell was responsible for Kepler, [5] etc. (Burnham may have created the depiction of Hershel; the authorship of the Hipparchus and Galileo figures is unclear.)
According to the Los Angeles Times art critic Arthur Millier in 1934, the "original idea" was Foerster's, and he was "responsible for the delicate engineering entailed in pouring a forty-foot concrete shaft." [2] The monument is topped with an armillary sphere, originally concrete, replaced with a bronze piece in 1991. [4]
On November 25, 1934, almost six months prior to the opening of the Observatory on May 14, 1935, a celebration took place to mark completion of the Astronomers Monument. The only "signature" on the Astronomers Monument is "PWAP 1934," referring to the program which funded the project and the year in which it was completed.
Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. Hipparchus was born in Nicaea, Bithynia, and probably died on the island of Rhodes, Greece. He is known to have been a working astronomer between 162 and 127 BC.
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy. It was not completely separated in Europe during the Copernican Revolution starting in 1543. In some cultures, astronomical data was used for astrological prognostication.
Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae, influencing among others Isaac Newton, providing one of the foundations for his theory of universal gravitation. The variety and impact of his work made Kepler one of the founders and fathers of modern astronomy, the scientific method, natural and modern science. He has been described as the "father of science fiction" for his novel Somnium.
In astronomy, the geocentric model is a superseded description of the Universe with Earth at the center. Under most geocentric models, the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets all orbit Earth. The geocentric model was the predominant description of the cosmos in many European ancient civilizations, such as those of Aristotle in Classical Greece and Ptolemy in Roman Egypt, as well as during the Islamic Golden Age.
Heliocentrism is a superseded astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center. The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the third century BC by Aristarchus of Samos, who had been influenced by a concept presented by Philolaus of Croton. In the 5th century BC the Greek Philosophers Philolaus and Hicetas had the thought on different occasions that the Earth was spherical and revolving around a "mystical" central fire, and that this fire regulated the universe. In medieval Europe, however, Aristarchus' heliocentrism attracted little attention—possibly because of the loss of scientific works of the Hellenistic period.
Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California, on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction with a close view of the Hollywood Sign and an extensive array of space and science-related displays. It is named after its benefactor, Griffith J. Griffith. Admission has been free since the observatory's opening in 1935, in accordance with the benefactor's will.
Owen Jay Gingerich was an American astronomer who had been professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science at Harvard University and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In addition to his research and teaching, he had written many books on the history of astronomy.
The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal work-relief program that employed professional artists to create sculptures, paintings, crafts and design for public buildings and parks during the Great Depression in the United States. The program operated from December 8, 1933, to May 20, 1934, administered by Edward Bruce under the United States Treasury Department, with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
The Copernican Revolution was the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described the cosmos as having Earth stationary at the center of the universe, to the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. This revolution consisted of two phases; the first being extremely mathematical in nature and the second phase starting in 1610 with the publication of a pamphlet by Galileo. Beginning with the 1543 publication of Nicolaus Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, contributions to the “revolution” continued until finally ending with Isaac Newton’s work over a century later.
Copernican heliocentrism is the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. This model positioned the Sun at the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets orbiting around it in circular paths, modified by epicycles, and at uniform speeds. The Copernican model displaced the geocentric model of Ptolemy that had prevailed for centuries, which had placed Earth at the center of the Universe.
George Maitland Stanley was an American sculptor. He designed the Academy Award of Merit, also known as the Oscar, as well as sculpting the Muse Statue at the Hollywood Bowl.
The Copernican Question: Prognostication, Skepticism, and Celestial Order is a 704-page book written by Robert S. Westman and published by University of California Press in 2011 and in 2020 (paperback). The book is a broad historical overview of Europe's astronomical and astrological culture leading to Copernicus’s De revolutionibus and follows the scholarly debates that took place roughly over three generations after Copernicus.
Ada May Sharpless was an American artist and sculptor.
Historical models of the Solar System began during prehistoric periods and are updated to this day. The models of the Solar System throughout history were first represented in the early form of cave markings and drawings, calendars and astronomical symbols. Then books and written records became the main source of information that expressed the way the people of the time thought of the Solar System.
Roger Noble Burnham was an American sculptor and teacher. He is best remembered for creating The Trojan (1930), the unofficial mascot of the University of Southern California.
Santa Monica is an Art Deco sculpture by Eugene Morahan (1869–1949) installed in Santa Monica's Palisades Park, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in California.
Lorraine Archibald “Archie” Garner was an American sculptor.
Georg Limnaeus was a German mathematician, astronomer and librarian, who provided noteworthy encouragement to Johannes Kepler shortly after his first heliocentric astronomical work was published.
Sherman Goodwin Peticolas Jr., known as Sherry Peticolas, was an American sculptor and art teacher active in Los Angeles, California, United States in the first half of the 20th century.
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