History
The Boyden Station of Harvard Observatory was founded in 1889 by Harvard University at Mount Harvard near Lima, Peru. It was relocated to Arequipa, Peru in October 1890. It was named after Uriah A. Boyden, who in 1879 left in his will $238,000 to Harvard Observatory to be used for astronomical purposes. Significant work done at Arequipa include the discovery of Phoebe, an outer moon of Saturn, by William Henry Pickering using photographic plates captured with the 24 in (61 cm) Bruce Astrograph.
In 1927 the observatory was moved to its present location in South Africa. This was done because it was expected that Bloemfontein would be less cloudy than Arequipa, which after two years of recording proved to be true. The site near the settlement of Mazelspoort was formally dedicated in 1933. Its first and longtime director in South Africa was John S. Paraskevopoulos, who held the post from 1927 to 1951. Financial issues at Harvard almost led to the closure of Boyden in 1954, but several European countries became partners in funding and using the observatory. In 1975 Harvard, which had transferred the title to the Smithsonian Institution, announced it would withdraw its support in the following year. UFS agreed to support the facility, and it was donated to UFS in 1976.
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