In the past, the planetarium drew annual crowds upwards of 4,000 people – from astronomy students to local residents to nearby grade school students. The directors were as much a draw as the fantastic equipment. From its beginning in 1946 to its closing in 2007, it was led by a rotating array of directors:

• Maurice Thaddeus Brackbill, 1946 – 1956;

• Robert C. Lehman, 1956 – 1958;
• John Hershey, 1958 – 1960;
• John Horst, 1960 – 1962;
• Lehman, 1962 – 1979;
• Horst, 1979 – 1986;
• Joseph Mast, 1986 – 2005;
• Horst, 2005 – 2007.

But the roots of the planetarium run even deeper, hailing back to a group of students and Professor Brackbill, circa 1930, on the roof of the Administration Building. Brackbill, who had a master’s degree in astronomy, was a science, math and English professor, registrar, dorm hall manager, chorister and athletic association president during his decades of service to EMC – from the school’s founding in 1917 to his retirement in 1956.

In the early thirties, he founded the Astral Society – a group of students who gathered on top of the Ad Building to watch the stars. An “Astralite” was a member who could name all the constellations and 90 stars.

New observatory contains state-of-the-art projector

The Astral Society, along with the class of 1938, raised funds to build the Vesper Heights Observatory on top of “The Hill” (the white-domed, cylindrical building still exists adjacent to the Discipleship Center).

Brackbill called the observatory, equipped with a six-inch refracting telescope, an “enviable little sky port where the star rays land and you take off.” However, the metal dome did not open or pivot easily, and the space was converted into a 22-seat planetarium in 1946. The telescope was moved outside.

At that time, planetarium projectors were rarely found outside of metropolitan areas. Brackbill’s friend, Armand N. Spitz, set out to change that. He created the Spitz A-1 star projector, a hand-cranked device with twelve pentagonal sides for displaying stars on a domed ceiling. EMC received the very first Spitz A-1 created; Princeton bought the second.

Professor Emeritus John Horst and Ruby Lehman, wife of the late Professor Robert C. Lehman, both remember Brackbill’s creative nests of wires and devices.

“Brackbill was known for rigging up many special effects,” says Horst.

“It wouldn’t pass a fire code now!” Ruby says.

Ever inventive, Brackbill also created an “Astra Guide” for his wife, a rotating chart which reveals what is visible in the Northern Hemisphere sky on a given date. The chart and Spitz A-1 are both on display in the Science Center foyer.

1955: Astral Hall

In 1955, the Astral Hall was built. The terraced one-room building next to the observatory hosted astronomy lectures and Astral Society meetings. (It eventually became the WEMC studios.) In 1956, Brackbill retired, and Lehman was hired to take his place on faculty and as planetarium director.

Notably, Brackbill published The Heavens Declare (Moody Bible Institude of Chicago) in 1959, a book of religious and philosophical musings, humor, and astronomy facts. (91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s Historical Library has a non-circulating copy.)

Spitz, his friend who created the star projector, wrote the introduction, naming Brackbill as “a quiet, unassuming individual, in a quiet, unassuming college, representing a quiet, unassuming faith, in a quiet, unassuming community. Yet his influence has spread throughout the years.”

After assuming directorship, Lehman used the Vesper Heights vantage point to sight the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957. With 11 students and faculty dressed in surplus navy coats against the cold, they took shifts looking into a row of monocular stations lined up along the north-south meridian. Their lenses were tilted at various angles to provide a certain altitude and longitude reading when the satellite came into view. EMC radioed in the second observational fix in the U.S., part of a large network of sightings used to establish Sputnik’s orbital track.

Lehman took two breaks from directing the planetarium to finish his master’s and doctoral degrees in biophysics at Penn State, during which John Hershey and John Horst acted as interim directors.

Brackbill Planetarium

In 1968, the Suter Science Center was completed. Lehman was a major contributor to the design, according to Horst.

The new building included the Brackbill Planetarium, which could seat 80 people, and a more accurate, spherical Spitz A-4 star projector. Tiny holes in the metal sheeting on the inner dome surface “gave you more of a starlight feel,” says Horst.

Lehman had many assistants – physics majors helped give presentations, his son Jim helped install equipment, and the D. Ralph Hostetter Natural History Museum helped attract patrons. In the 1980s, Marijke Kyler, a professor in the Literature and Language department, assisted with school group programs.

Joe Mast, “a very competent professional astronomer” according to Horst, took over the program in 1986, continuing to bring in thousands of children and adults to learn about the stars. In 2003, he installed a new 10-inch digital Meade telescope in the Vesper Heights observatory.

John Horst took over the planetarium in 2005 when Mast retired, adding “some meditative cosmic space music” which he performed on a synthesizer to welcome visitors before the presentations.

By 2007, the 40-year-old Spitz A-4 projector had mechanical problems that would have been costly to fix or replace. Besides, Horst was retiring, with no prospective astronomers on the faculty to continue the programming. The planetarium closed. Horst, Mast and Lehman gathered at a farewell reception to tell stories from their decades as Mennonite ambassadors to the heavens.

Discovery Room

The site of the former planetarium continued as a popular learning destination for thousands of school age children and other visitors. Professor Jim Yoder, director of the D. Ralph Hostetter Natural History Museum, proposed that the planetarium become a Discovery Room.

In 2008, the auditorium seating was replaced with carpet, tables and chairs; the star projector was lowered into storage, and fossils, rocks, animal skins and aquariums took center stage. On the platform over the top the star projector, a taxidermied Alaskan Kodiak bear roars, courtesy of head softball coach J.D. McCurdy.

Science center renovations beginning in 2015 required the natural history museum’s main room to be emptied. The Discovery Room became museum storage, and currently hold more than 2,800 specimens.

The space will be updated in the course of Suter West renovations, with the iconic dome and cylinder remaining.

Click here to learn more about the museum .

“A classroom this size is now a rarity at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ,” observed , who was a student in SC-106 when it was brand-new and who studied under each of the professors on the panel. “Smaller classes are the norm now.” Lehman, who chaired the that moved to the science center in 1981, retired earlier this year. He earned his PhD in applied experimental psychology at Virginia Tech University.

Most of the professors on the panel arrived at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ, fresh out of graduate school, around the time the state-of-the-art building, with its domed planetarium, opened in 1968. All six were 91¶ĚĘÓƵ alumni. The science center had not yet been named for , longtime biology professor and pre-med advisor who retired in 1985 and died in 2006.

“The highlight of my career was working with all these people,” said Joe Mast, looking fondly at the row of colleagues to his right. “We formed quite a community.”

The six professors were a good fit for a small college, where they had to teach a variety of courses. But they were also a product of a college where they were encouraged to delve into a variety of subjects. Many of them were on faculty teams that taught “IDS” (interdisciplinary studies) courses that were required of all students in the 1970s.

, who earned his PhD in plant ecology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, taught almost every science-related course, at one time or another, that didn’t have “human anatomy” or “physiology” in its title. “I even taught a nutrition course,” he said. Over the years he became an expert on ornithology, the study of birds. For 25 years he was the curator of the in the science center.

Kenton Brubaker, with a PhD in horticulture from Ohio State University, branched out to , biochemistry, genetics, ecology and agriculture. “I taught a course on cell biology, which was new to me but very exciting,” he said. “Years later I saw a former student who got a PhD in cell biology from Harvard. He said my course started his quest in the field.”

“None of my nutrition students got a Harvard PhD in nutrition,” retorted Mellinger.

One of Brubaker’s primary interests was international agriculture, fostered by a three-year teaching term in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1960s with . Another interest that he pursued, beginning in the early 1970s, was environmental studies and conservation. He and Mellinger helped start a campus organization called that continues to this day.

Brubaker, the oldest of the retiree group, joined the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ faculty in 1959. The others came during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Suter Science panel discussion, coinciding with the , attracted alumni who had studied in the building and sat in the professors’ classes.

Millard Showalter, who earned an EdD from the University of Virginia, taught in the mathematical sciences department. He followed five simple teaching principles: be enthusiastic, use humor, always be prepared for class, use praise, and demonstrate a sincere interest in each student.

In his “Math and the Liberal Arts” course, he had a standing invitation for students to earn an automatic “A” by showing how they could take a plain sheet of paper and fold it eight times. For years, no one met the challenge. Showalter felt it was not humanly possible to fold a paper that many times. Finally, a student showed up one day with a tiny lump of paper that he had folded eight times. The student was – and Showalter looked to his left on the panel – Lehman, who worked part-time at a machine shop and used a mechanized press to aid him.

Glenn Kauffman, with a PhD in physical organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, marveled at the equipment improvements in his department over the years. “It’s amazing that we never had a major fire in the chemistry labs in the early years,” he said. “And the organic chemistry lab used to be the smelliest place in the building.”

Kauffman is most proud of “developing a culture of research” among his students. He devoted much of his own time – in addition to a full teaching load – to conducting research with students. Sometimes the research was in collaboration with James Madison University, across town, with grants from the National Science Foundation.

Joseph Mast juggled his interests in , , astronomy and . His PhD from the University of Virginia was in astronomy, but he was also trained in the other areas. He was an early student and then early instructor in computers. For 20 years he was director of 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s M.T. Brackbill Planetarium, enjoying his interaction with school children who came to his planetarium shows.

“My favorite course was astronomy,” he said. “When students would excitedly find Orion in the sky – that was great.”

New models and workshops funded by a $5,300 grant will help visitors to 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s (91¶ĚĘÓƵ) answer those questions.

, PhD, professor of and museum curator said the grant will allow the museum to purchase watershed models, develop a new workshop to raise local awareness and educate area school groups on restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.

, education director at the Hostetter Museum, submitted the grant which will be available this spring.

“One of the most important things our school age students need to understand is that we all live in a watershed, no matter how far away from the ocean or river we live,” said Gallon. “We will be able to provide a dynamic, hands-on learning program for students and teachers that will enhance several Virginia Standards of Learning. Our goal is to reach students and teachers in every school with this new programming.”

The grant is made possible through the , which procures the funds through the sale of specialized “Friends of the Chesapeake” license plates.

The are open to the public 2-5 p.m. Sundays . School groups (maximum of 75 students), church groups, community organizations or clubs wanting to visit should contact the museum at 540-432-4400 or museum@emu.edu.

91¶ĚĘÓƵ the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund

The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund was created by the Virginia General Assembly for use by nonprofit and public agencies for environmental education and restoration projects to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. For each vehicular license plate sold or renewed at a cost of $25, the Department of Motor Vehicles gets $10 and the Chesapeake Restoration Fund receives $15. Thanks to the generosity of Virginia’s citizens, revenues from the purchase of the popular Chesapeake Bay commemorative license plate have continued to grow, resulting in the awarding of $6 million in grants for Chesapeake Bay projects.

The Kodiak bear is one of many exhibits that draw in hundreds of area elementary students each year.

The M.T. Brackbill Planetarium, a 40-year mainstay at the Science Center, gave its final public programs during the spring of 2007. The main reasons – the nearly-prohibitive cost of replacing the worn-out Spitz planetarium projector and the difficulty of keeping the program going with the retirement a year ago of John L. Horst, the last faculty member with expertise and keen interest in astronomy.

Planetarium Becomes Workshop

But rather than boarding up the facility, Dr. James M. (Jim) Yoder, associate professor of biology and current curator of the adjacent D.R. Hostetter Museum of Natural History, floated an idea – why not convert the space into an exciting circular classroom with educational displays and hands-on workshops, while also keeping the museum and the animal head room open.

Which is exactly what’s happened. Over the past year and a half Dr. Yoder worked with museum education director Christine Hill, former curator Dr. Clair Mellinger and 91¶ĚĘÓƵ biology students to renovate the planetarium, overhaul the museum education program and update the museum displays and marketing materials.

The refurbished planetarium space became the “Discovery Room,” a classroom for conducting workshops and a display area for larger specimens such as the giant Kodiak brown bear that stands upright in its center. 91¶ĚĘÓƵ art professor Dr. Cindy Gusler also contributed to the renovation by painting a 100-foot mural depicting endangered birds and plants on the interior wall of the room.

More Space, More Exhibits

Jim Yoder, museum curator and associate professor of biology at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ, involves a visiting class of students in a nature exhibit.

Many remarkable fossil and minerals specimens from the late biology professor D. Ralph Hostetter’s collection had been in storage because of lack of space in the museum. These specimens, along with other newly acquired large mammals like a black bear, American bison and Rocky Mountain goat, have also found new homes in the expanded museum.

The Discovery Room, which opened in September, also features centers for children to actually touch and experience rocks and minerals, marine creatures, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

Workshops are offered that meet specific requirements for Standards of Learning (SOL’s) in Virginia and West Virginia. They include Getting to Know Rocks and Minerals, Amazing Animal Adaptations, Discovering Owls and Exploring the World Around You. There are also stations that allow kids to handle fossils and bird study skins, make animal track prints and hold live starfish and sea urchins.

“We hope to add more workshop possibilities in the future, like a focus on the Chesapeake Bay, for example,” Dr. Yoder said. “The Discovery Room helps reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. It also provides a fun way to learn and get students excited about science,” he added.

91¶ĚĘÓƵ Students Practice Teaching

Not only does the Discovery Room benefit student groups, but it also gives 91¶ĚĘÓƵ biology and education major students an opportunity to practice their teaching skills, set up lessons and apply what they are learning in classes.

Ethan Zook, a junior biology and education major who works in the Discovery Room, said that “seeing the kids get excited about what they learning, and about science” is his favorite part of working in the Discovery Room. Zook hopes “more education classes and faculty will be able to get involved.”

The Discovery Room and the D. Ralph Hostetter Museum of Natural History are open to the public to visit 2-4 p.m. Sundays when 91¶ĚĘÓƵ is in session.

School groups (maximum of 75 students), church groups, community organizations or clubs wanting to visit should call Cheryl Doss at 540-432-4400 or e-mail: dossc@emu.edu.

Aubrey Bauman is a senior digital media major at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ from Mechanicsburg, Pa.