[3] In 1840 William Brydone Jack became professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at King's College, which later became the University of New Brunswick.

[4] An enthusiastic astronomer himself and supported by New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor Sir Edmund Walker Head, Brydone Jack persuaded the council to grant funds for the purchase of a telescope and other astronomy equipment.

[5] The 7.5 foot mahogany and brass achromatic telescope with an equatorial mount was built by the German manufacturer Merz and Son at a cost of £504.11s.9d.

[7] The text on the original plaque read: First Astronomical Observatory in CanadaBuilt in 1851 at the instigation of William Brydone Jack, professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy; President of the University of New Brunswick, 1861-85.

In collaboration with Harvard observatory he determined the longitude of Fredericton and other places in New Brunswick and corrected errors in the international boundary.