James Lick - Statue and Observatory in California - Lunar Crater and Asteroid
N 37° 20.489 W 121° 38.578
10S E 620204 N 4133618
A lunar crater and an asteroid, both named after the founder of the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory.
Waymark Code: WM6612
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2009
Views: 6
James Lick was a carpenter, piano builder, and - at the time of his death - the wealthiest man in California. His biggest legacy - aside from the foundation of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company - was the
Lick Observatory. It was constructed between 1876 and 1887 on land owned by Lick and became the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory.
Lick didn't live to see the completion of what was then the world's largest telescope. He died in 1876 in San Francisco. In 1887, a year before the observatory was finished, his body was moved to its final resting place, under the future home of the telescope that now bears his name. The tomb is not accessible to the public, but a statue in the backyard of the observatory commemorates California's richest hobby astronomer.
In 1935, a lunar crater formation in Mare Crisium (at the bottom of this picture) was named after the benefactor. Furthermore, in 1951, an asteroid that was discovered at Lick observatory was named 1951 Lick, but there is very few information about it.
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