William Lowell Putnam any dramatic changes in the Observatory's staff or location. Thus, an Observatory expedition and possibly a permanent move to South America was postponed, effectively establishing the Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Despite his conviction that he should not make any major changes to the Observatory, Putnam did become embroiled in the controversy surrounding T. J. J. See. See was employed at Lowell Observatory at that time, but was both an extremely unpopular man and also regarded as a bad scientist. Three Observatory employees had already resigned due to See's poor treatment of them, and Douglass began working to remove See from
Michigan State University Observatory MSU campus. In 1880, Professor Rolla C. Carpenter built an observatory for the (then) State Agricultural College to house an Alvan Clark & Sons refracting telescope of 5.5 inches aperture. The observatory was located behind his residence at Faculty Row No.2, near where Sarah Langdon Williams Hall stands today. The original telescope is on exhibit at the Abrams Planetarium. Approximately one pair of evenings per month, if the sky is sufficiently clear, the MSU observatory opens its doors for public observing. The MSU 0.6 meter telescope will be set up for viewing on selected astronomical objects throughout the evening. Also,