Planetarium Authority

The American Museum of Natural History has long wanted a planetarium to show visitors how the planets revolve about the Sun, how the Sun moves among the other stars. The problem of getting money for the planetarium stumped Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn while he was president of the museum. By last week his successor Frederick Trubee Davison, son and brother of bankers, had invented an ingenious means: a quasi-public corporation called the Planetarium Authority, similar to the popular and profitable Port of New York Authority which builds toll tunnels, toll bridges and other self-liquidating port improvements. Such Authorities may issue bonds. The Planetarium Authority would pledge its bonds to Reconstruction Finance Corp. for the money needed to buy a planetarium projection device (price $110,000) from Carl Zeiss Inc. of Jena and put up the necessary building. The City of New York would transfer the land temporarily. Thus neither the City nor the Museum need impair its own credit. Admission fees ($50,000 or $100,000 yearly) would pay off the R. F. C. loan.*

* Chicago has a planetarium, the Adler. Philadelphia will put one in operation the end of this year, Los Angeles later. Germany has eleven planetaria, Italy two (Rome, Milan),Austria one (Vienna), Russia one (Moscow).

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