Planetarium President Defends Funding Request

In Wednesday night's debate, John McCain hammered Barack Obama for pork barrel spending, including his $3 million congressional earmark request "for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois." McCain then added, "My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?"

The folks at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago want to clarify what it is that's being portrayed as wasteful spending. This is not, after all, the typical overhead projector that you might find at the front of a classroom or in an office conference room.

The money would be used to overhaul the projection system in the Adler Planetarium's Sky Theater; it projects an image of the night sky, the stars and planets, on the theater's dome ceiling. Planetarium President Paul Knappenberger says it is the quintessential planetarium experience:

An overhead projector is what classroom teachers use to put a page from a book up onto a screen in a classroom. They might cost $300, if that. You could probably find one on ebay for $10. What we've requested was a planetarium projection system. The current one we have in the theater was installed in 1970. It's wearing out. It's on it's last legs. We're starting to lose shows.

Projector vs Projector

Left: iStockphoto. Right: courtesy of the Adler Planetarium

 

The German optical company Zeiss, which made the current projector, no longer provides parts or service to fix it when it breaks down. A new system would be all digital, and the total replacement/upgrade cost is close to $10 million. The earmark request, which was made by a bi-partisan group of the Illinois delegation and not just Sen. Obama, would cover just $3 million. Knappenberger says they are seeking private funds to make up the difference.

Knappenberger says the Sky Theater is not only the most popular attraction at the planetarium, but the best educational tool, too. He considers it a critical investment at a time when science education in the U.S. Is lagging behind other countries.

-- David Schaper

7:01 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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