John A. Brashear later became connected with the observatory
 and constructed many instruments for which a
demand developed in all parts of the world. He raised sufficient
 funds to build the present beautiful building, costing
about $300,000. A 30-inch reflector was built, called the
Keeler Memorial Telescope. This is adapted to spectroscopic
 work, and with it were determined the orbits of a large
number of spectroscopic binaries, stars which by means of
the spectroscope are known to be double, and yet are so
close together that the telescope is not capable of showing
 them double.
As a memorial to Willlam Thaw and his son, William
Thaw, Jr., the immediate families of these men furnished the
money, about $125,000, for the erection of the Thaw Memorial
 Refractor. So difficult was the task of making perfect
dises, a wait of more than 10 years was necessary before they
could be delivered. The second of these discs was sent from
Germany only four months before the outbreak of the World
War. In April, 1914, after the receipt of this disc, the
Brashear Company ground and finished the lens in four
months, much the shortest time in which any large lens had
ever been finished. The observatory now houses the finest
photographic reflector in the world.
The present director is Dr. Heber D. Curtis, who has
been a member of every important expedition for the observation
 of solar eclipses in recent years.
Four nights a week are allotted to visitors to the observatory,
 and about 5000 persons, many of them from distant
parts of the country, and other parts of the world, “see the
stars” annually through the facilities offered by the Pittsburgh
 University.