Dr. Carl Seyfert, a Vanderbilt University astronomy professor known for his discovery of a special class of galaxies, was instrumental in the creation of Dyer Observatory in the early 1950s. With initial support and encouragement from the university, Dr. Seyfert convinced over 80 individuals, firms and foundations to donate everything from electrical service, to dynamite, to optics to make Dyer Observatory a reality.

What could not be found on the shelves of local businesses however, was a dome--specifically one that was 24 feet in diameter and would weigh five tons! Mr. Arthur J. Dyer, owner of the Nashville Bridge Company, not only agreed to build the dome and provide the installation, but was also a generous donor.

Mr. Dyer accompanied Dr. Seyfert on field trips to find a suitable home for the observatory. They found it at our site which sits on nine acres 1,131 feet above sea level. Deservedly, the 24-inch telescope housed in the observatory dome is named in Dr. Seyfert's honor as is the observatory for Mr. Dyer. The observatory was dedicated in 1953.

The Early Days of Astronomy at Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt University's original observatory was located on the main campus and was named after Edward Emerson Barnard, who was one of America's most noted astronomers and one of Vanderbilt's earliest students.
Coming from an impoverished family around the time of the Civil War, Barnard had been placed at the age of nine in a Nashville photographic studio in order to supplement his invalid and widowed mother's meager income. There, without the benefit of formal schooling, he acquired a thorough knowledge of photographic techniques and also a zealous interest in astronomy. At the age of twenty-six he was persuaded to enter the university as an assistant in the new observatory and as a special student.

He was at Vanderbilt for four years. In 1887 he became one of the initial staff members of the newly formed Lick Observatory, and in 1895 went to the Yerkes Observatory. While his discovery of sixteen comets and the fifth satellite of Jupiter were sufficient to assure him of a place among the outstanding observers of all time, his success in applying photography to stellar astronomy, his investigations of dark nebulae, and his countless micrometer measurements of stellar positions were no less significant. The Barnard Observatory was equipped with a 6-inch Cooke refractor, a meridian circle, and the various accessory equipment representative of a well-appointed observatory of 1875.

The Seyfert Telescope and equipment of Dyer Observatory