Object Details
- inventor
- Spitz, Armand
- Spitz Laboratories, Inc.
- Description
- Armand Spitz (1904-1971) was a newspaperman and science educator who began developing planetariums in the early 1940s. His planetariums proliferated in the aftermath of Sputnik, and may be said to have democratized astronomy education. Inexpensive and easy to use, they brought planetarium shows into schools, colleges, and other community buildings around the country. The A2, introduced in the summer of 1958, was the most popular model. This example was made by the Spitz Laboratories, Inc. in Yorklyn, Delaware, and was used at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland.
- Ref: “Armand N. Spitz, Astronomer, Dies,” Washington Post (April 16, 1971), p. C10.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Montgomery College
- ca 1960
- ID Number
- 1988.0477.01
- accession number
- 1988.0477
- catalog number
- 1988.0477.01
- Object Name
- planetarium
- Physical Description
- aluminum (overall material)
- plywood (overall material)
- glass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 94 in x 60 in x 28 in; 238.76 cm x 152.4 cm x 71.12 cm
- overall: crate: 108 in x 70 in x 34 in; 274.32 cm x 177.8 cm x 86.36 cm
- Place Made
- United States: Delaware, Yorklyn
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Sputnik
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Astronomy
- Record ID
- nmah_1183743
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-2b1d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
