Over the last 18 months, Guthrie led the collaborative effort<\/a> between UConn students, faculty, and\u00a0skilled facilities staff to get the facility up and running again. After sitting unused for about 10 years, on November 1st<\/sup><\/a> the planetarium was officially renamed to honor the late Cynthia Peterson, UConn\u2019s first woman physics faculty member<\/a>, who remained the only woman in the department for 35 years. As her favorite place on campus and a site where she educated and inspired students of all ages, the planetarium\u2019s dedication is fitting.<\/p>\n Moving forward, Guthrie says there are plans in the works to put the planetarium to good use for education and outreach.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the spring semester, we hope to have at least one show every week depending on demand,\u201d says Guthrie.<\/p>\n In a lecture<\/a> before the dedication ceremony, Guthrie detailed the planetarium\u2019s history, starting with its construction in 1954 and going up to the restoration efforts which started in 2022. Guthrie shared artifacts they found while clearing the facility. He also introduced many of the people who helped make the project a success:<\/p>\n \u201cI want to emphasize how much of a group effort it was to get the planetarium to its current state and to reopen it.\u201d<\/p>\n Guthrie also shared stories from the planetarium\u2019s “soft” opening earlier this year, with several groups enjoying shows in the space, including a show for the visually impaired over the summer and shows over Family Weekend. There are more in the works as more groups reach out, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to keep track of them, but we have a lot of groups who are interested,\u201d says Guthrie. \u201cWe are working with several school groups in the area to arrange fieldtrips.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the restoration process, one guiding principle that Guthrie has maintained is recognition for Peterson and the lasting contributions she made to UConn. At the dedication, Peterson\u2019s daughter Celeste<\/a> spoke about her mother\u2019s enthusiasm and passion for learning and teaching, and UConn Physics Professor Nora Berrah<\/a> spoke about how Peterson was a pioneer and mentor to other women in science at a time when women were underappreciated.<\/p>\n \u201cProfessor Peterson was an inspiring pioneer in STEM, and it\u2019s important to recognize and celebrate trailblazing women in our field,\u201d said Guthrie. \u201cNora spoke about how essential her presence was to inspire the women she advised, and I hope the dedication properly honors her memory and contributions.”<\/p>\n Guthrie has also led efforts to restore the Cynthia Wyeth Peterson Observatory<\/a>. Since that story was\u00a0published, members of the public have reached out to inquire about the planetarium and share their experiences in the facilities and their memories of Professor Peterson.<\/p>\n The huge amount of interest in this and another restoration effort for UConn\u2019s observatory are a\u00a0testament to not only the importance of these facilities for UConn student education but also for public outreach \u2013 both things that Peterson was passionate about.<\/p>\n \u201cMy earliest scientific memory involves a little inflatable planetarium. My first-grade teacher, Mrs. Donaldson at Briar Glen Elementary in Chicago, brought one to school and it changed the course of my life. This building has the potential to change lives, and I want to make sure we don\u2019t miss that opportunity,\u201d said Guthrie.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The project was made possible thanks to funding from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The <\/em>Planetarium schedule<\/em><\/a> will be updated with events once the facility is up and running. You can also keep up with events via <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The newly renovated Cynthia Wyeth Peterson Planetarium will carry on Peterson\u2019s legacy and help educate generations to come<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":220840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,1727,2460,2235,2225,2227,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2093],"class_list":["post-220825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-construction","category-faculty","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 02:08:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220825"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220849,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220825\/revisions\/220849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/220840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220825"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=220825"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=220825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PhD](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Europa-240x300.jpeg\")