Department of Astronomy at The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University has a long tradition of astronomy reaching back to the McMillin Observatory founded in 1896. As the science of Astronomy was transformed into Astrophysics during the first half of the 20th century, the OSU Trustees decided to transfer the astronomy program to the Department of Physics in the College of the Arts & Sciences. The astronomy faculty was part of the Physics Department for 30 years from 1931 until 1961, when Astronomy was formally constituted as a separate department. Entering the 21st century, we are members of the SDSS, DES, and DESI collaborations, and continue to actively build our research capabilities at the MDM and LBT observatories on Earth and actively use modern space-based observatories such as GAIA and JWST. Ohio State Astronomy is one of the world's leading builders of advanced astronomical instrumentation.