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出典:『Wikipedia』 (2011/02/09 18:19 UTC 版)

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The McCormick Observatory is one of the astronomical observatories operated by the Department of Astronomy of the University of Virginia and is situated just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) in Albemarle County on the summit of Mount Jefferson (also known as Observatory Hill). It is named for Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900), who provided the funds for the telescope and observatory. Leander was the son of Robert McCormick (1780–1846), the inventor of a mechanical reaper, and brother of Cyrus H. McCormick, who patented it, and undertook the large scale manufacture and marketing of the invention. The McCormick family's homestead of Walnut Grove was located near Raphine, Virginia, although they moved to Chicago to manufacture of the reaper on a large scale in 1848. In Chicago Cyrus, Leander and their brother William founded what became the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and eventually International Harvester. In 1870 Leander decided to donate the largest telescope in the world to his home state of Virginia. However, the financial impact of the American Civil War on Virginia as well as the impact of the Great Chicago Fire on his own finances, delayed his efforts, and the telescope was the second largest refractor in the world when completed.