Sundials

The Institute Sundial

Mr. Ginnousuke O'Hara designed and built the sundial and presented it to the Institute on behalf of the Citizen Watch Company of Tokyo. "Ginn" O'Hara, from Sagamihara City near Tokyo, created sundials that are more accurate--to within four seconds--than the famous Egyptian prototypes.

When Mr. O'Hara dedicated the sundial in July 1980, IfA staffers placed in it a time capsule to be opened in 2030. The capsule contains a collection of black-and-white 35-mm negatives specially processed for long-term preservation, as well as some written materials, including a message from then IfA Director John Jeffries and a listing of IfA staff members on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii.

By the time he died in 1983, Mr. O'Hara had realized his dream--"to encircle the globe with his sundials--to obtain immortality by having the sun shine on at least one of the dials every minute of the day" (from his obituary in a Philadelphia newspaper).

(Photo courtesy of Honolulu Star-Bulletin; text copyright 1996, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii).

The sundial is a natural focus at the Institute. This photo of the Solar Group was taken July 28, 1994. (Rear: R. Canfield, L. Jiao, J.-P. Wuelser, T. Metcalf, H. Hudson, B. LaBonte, E. Lu, R. Kupke, A. McClymont, A. Pevtsov; Front: K.D. Leka, G. Cauzzi, D. Gomez, K. Reardon)

Mr. O'Hara's hometown of Sagamihara is the site of the Japan Space Agency Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ISAS is the center for operations of the Japanese YOHKOH spacecraft; the Hawaii Solar Group is a part of the YOHKOH Team. More of the O'Hara sundials are found in several parks near ISAS, beginning with the south exit of the Fuchinobe train station, the gateway to ISAS.

Other O'Hara sundials are located in Shanghai (stainless steel), Hamburg, and on the Tama campus of Chuo University in Hachioji, Japan (black marble).

Sundial links