BOSSCHA OBSERVATORY — FROM TEA TO ASTRONOMY

The Bosscha Observatory (Figure 1) in Lembang, now part of the Institut Teknologi Bandung, is the only professional astronomical institute in all of Indonesia. Because of its equatorial location, it provides access to both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This is a unique circumstance. January 1, 2023 marked the centennial of the official inauguration of this Observatory. The remarkable thing is that it came into being thanks to a private East Indies initiative. It took seven years before it received any Government funding. The initiative to establish the Bosscha Observatory came from two members of a remarkable family of tea growers, characterized by a high standard of ethical and scientific attitude in life. This paper describes the events leading up to the establishment of the Observatory, and its history and scientific achievements through 1928.