 The observatory was installed with a coronagraph in 1940, which had been developed and tested at the Oakridge Station of Harvard College Observatory (it was patterned after one developed by Bernard Lyot in the 1930s in France).At the Harvard College Observatory in Climax (elevation 11,520 feet), Roberts observed and concluded that changes in the corona affected radio communications, and in fact these changes provided advance warning of communication disturbances.This became important for WWII wartime security and the observatory work was classified and overseen by the Navy during this period.