Completed in 1854 on a hill northeast of campus, the Detroit observatory demonstrated president Tappan's commitment to practical scientific education. Detroit businessmen, eager for an accurate timekeeping service, provided funding. director Franz Brunnow was UM's first ph.d. professor and became Tappan's son-in-law. the observatory, stripped of later additions and restored, with its two original telescopes, reopened as a museum in 1999.