274 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



States. Armand N. Spitz is the man responsible. He is a self-taught 

 astronomer with a background in newspaper work and museum 

 education — a man with an endless stream of ideas. For years he 

 had harbored notions of producing a planetarium that was within 

 the means of many schools, museums, and libraries in even the 

 small communities. In 1947, his dream became a reality; Spitz 

 and some business friends actually produced a small functioning 

 star projector. 



The new device was a dodecahedron assembled from 12 pentago- 

 nally shaped black plastic sheets. At the center, properly gimbaled, 

 was a small electric light bulb. Rays of light shone from it through 

 holes machined in the surface of the dodecahedron — large holes 

 for large stars, small holes for small stars. Diurnal motion was 

 attained by rotating the machine around an axis parallel to the 

 earth's axis. Latitude change was produced by tilting this axis. 

 Separate projectors were provided to demonstrate the positions of 

 sun, moon, and planets (which could be set in advance for any given 

 date) , and to show the meridian, celestial coordinates, and the celestial 

 triangle which is the basic problem in celestial navigation. 



The author was partly responsible for the installation of one of 

 the earliest Spitz planetariums located at the U. S. Merchant Marine 

 Academy at Kings Point, N. Y. As an assistant professor of 

 astronomy I was seeking a means of demonstrating the three- 

 dimensional character of the skies in a simple and meaningful 

 manner. I was mindful of the elegant but confusing blackboard 

 drawings of one of my own early astronomy instructors, and was 

 determined not to duplicate the confusion. Visits to the American 

 Museum-Hayden Planetarium with the astronomy classes had been 

 arranged for several years, but the demonstrations there were not 

 specifically appropriate to the needs of our students. The visits did 

 prove the potential value of a planetarium for our own use. 



A small planetarium dome was constructed in the astronomy class- 

 room. It was 20 feet in diameter and 13 feet high from floor to 

 zenith; the height was fixed by the ceiling. Benches were installed 

 to accommodate up to 30 students — a full class. As soon as the 

 Spitz projector was supplied, classes were scheduled regularly in 

 the planetarium — normally, about one-half of a class session each 

 week for most of the school term, or a total of about 5 hours out 

 of the 45 allotted for the course in descriptive astronomy. The 

 planetarium also served as a center of interest for the Academy's 

 astronomy club, and as a point of visitation for guests on campus. 



The installation at Kings Point is typical of many others made by 

 the Spitz organization since 1947. To date, more than 180 classroom- 

 size units have been erected. Some are comfortably housed in separate 



