February 14, 2003

Australia to Rebuild Burned Observatory

By DAVID COHEN

Australian National University, in Canberra, said it would rebuild a world-famous observatory that was destroyed by fire last month.

The 78-year-old Mount Stromlo Observatory was incinerated in the wildfires that struck sections of the Australian capital and razed more than 400 homes.

There were no injuries or loss of life at the university, which is on its annual summer break. But the once-verdant hill on which the observatory sat was almost completely denuded, a spokesman