Minnaert's Folly: A forgotten teaching observatory from the 1960s

Abstract

A deserted tower at the Uithof Campus of Utrecht University used to be an astronomical observatory, purpose-built for Marcel Minnaert’s famous undergraduate course in practical astronomy. The tower, which was opened in 1964, has hardly been used, however. This was in part because of unforeseen campus development, but also because of shifting teaching priorities. This paper reconstructs the history of Minnaert’s ‘Sterrentoren’, which illustrates how failed observatories can shed as much light on the history of astronomy as successful ones.