In 1968, Cynthia Wyeth Peterson became the first woman to join the faculty of the department of physics at the University of Connecticut. During her nearly five-decades-long tenure, she served as the second director of the university’s planetarium and led the construction of a new observatory. A scholar of astronomy, chemistry, and biophysics, she held a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in experimental physics from Cornell University in New York. She passed away in 2020 at the age of 87.
Following Dr. Peterson’s retirement from the University of Connecticut in 2016, the planetarium and observatory closed. In recent years, both buildings have undergone extensive renovations, including the addition of new equipment, seating, and sound systems. Earlier this month, the planetarium officially launched with a new name: the Cynthia Wyeth Peterson Memorial Planetarium.
The University of Connecticut plans to begin hosting public viewings at the updated planetarium in January 2025.