Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA, halftone print, published 1899 - stock illustration

Historical view of the Yerkes Observatory on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, USA. The observatory, often called "the birthplace of modern astrophysics," was founded in 1892 by astronomer George Ellery Hale and financed by businessman Charles T. Yerkes. It represented a shift in the thinking about observatories, from their being mere housing for telescopes and observers, to the early-20th-century concept of observation equipment integrated with laboratory space for physics and chemistry analysis. Halftone print after a drawing, published in 1899.