DIRECTOR 1962-70
Orren Cuthbert Mohler was born on July 29, 1908 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He received his A.B. in 1929 from Michigan Normal College (now Eastern Michigan), and he earned an M.A. in 1930 and Ph.D. in 1933 from the University of Michigan. From 1933 to 1940, Mohler taught astronomy at Swarthmore College, and worked as an astronomer at the Cook Observatory of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1940, Mohler became an astronomer at the McMath-Hulbert Observatory at Lake Angelus near Pontiac, Michigan for the University of Michigan. He was awarded the Naval Ordnance Development Award for his contributions in military and development research. In 1961, Mohler became director of the McMath-Hulbert Observatory, and the following year was appointed as Chairman of the Astronomy Department and Director of the University of Michigan Observatories. In 1963, the astronomy department moved from the site at Ann and Observatory Streets to the new Dennison Building on Central Campus. By this time, most observations were performed off campus — outside of Ann Arbor, in other states and countries, and even from satellites. Mohler’s research led to the design and construction of the first astronomical vacuum spectrograph. In 1970, Mohler relinquished his lead position of the department and observatories but continued as a professor and director of the McMath-Hulbert Observatory until 1979. Mohler had a great interest in preserving the past. He placed the 1854 Tiede astronomical clock into safekeeping at the Bentley Historical Library when the Detroit Observatory was vacated, and he spent two years in the 1980s cleaning and polishing the meridian circle telescope to preserve it for future generations. Mohler died in 1985.
