OBSERVATORIES

are a very ancient invention, the Egyptian pyramids—if really O.—being probably the oldest still existing. The first historical observatory was founded in Alexandria about 300 B.C., and Europe did not follow suit till 1472 A.D., when Bernhard Walther built one at Nuremberg. Tycho Brahe (q.v.) built his famous one on Hveer island; near Copenhagen, and another was built at Ca ol in 1561. The first University O. were the result of Brahe's work—at Copenhagen and Leyden; the Royal O. at Paris dates from 1667, that at Green wich # from 1675, that at the Cape of Good Hope from 1820* and the Lick O. in California from 1888.