Leuschner Observatory began in 1886 on the University of California, Berkeley campus as the Students' Observatory, originally intended for civil engineering training but soon becoming a center for astronomy instruction. That change helped establish astronomy as a separate discipline at Berkeley, and under director Armin Otto Leuschner it gained distinction for calculating the orbits of comets, minor planets, and satellites. Renamed for him in 1951, the observatory moved near Lafayette in 1965. Its facilities have supported orbit studies, Pluto research, supernova searches, galaxy identification, and SETI-related work, while continuing to serve graduate and undergraduate education, instrument testing, and observational training.