A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom: Light House In The Sky And Pathfinder Of The Seas

The home of the Old Naval Observatory (1844-1893) and the Navy Medical Department (1894-2012) is where many firsts in science and technology took place.

This is where the science of oceanography was born, where the moons of Mars were discovered, where the underwater path of the first transatlantic cable was plotted. This location played a key role in the Civil War, our first westward expansion, and in the development of military medicine.

In 1902, the Naval Observatory was renamed the Naval Medical School, and later became home to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery until it was closed through the Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

Videos courtesy of the Office of Medical History, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery