The first mention of the Department of Astronomy as a unit of the University of Michigan was in 1929 when Will Carly Rufus was named Acting Director of the Observatories and acting Chairman of the Department of Astronomy. It is surmised that the Department was created in that year.
Director of the Observatory
Francis Brunnow
1854-1863
James Craig Watson
1863-1879
Mark Walrod Harrington
1879-1892
Asaph Hall, Jr.
1892-1905
William J. Hussey
1905-1926
Chairs of the Department of Astronomy
Ralph Hamilton Curtiss
1927-1930
Hebert Doust Curtis
1930 - 1946
Will Carl Rufus
1938-1939 (Acting)
Leo Goldberg
1946-1962
Orren Cuthbert Mohler
1962-1970
William Albert Hiltner
1970-1982
Robert Paul Kirschner
1982-1985
Douglas O. Richstone
1985-1987 (Interim)
1987-1990
Hugh D. Aller
1990-2000
Douglas O. Richstone
2000-2010
Joel N. Bregman
2010-
