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Title: The Reminiscences of an Astronomer

Author: Simon Newcomb

Release Date: September 17, 2006 [eBook #19309]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REMINISCENCES OF AN ASTRONOMER***

E-text prepared by Ferdinand van Aartsen

THE REMINISCENCES OF AN ASTRONOMER

by

SIMON NEWCOMB

1903

PREFACE

The earlier chapters of this collection are so much in the nature of an autobiography that the author has long shrunk from the idea of allowing them to see the light during his lifetime. His repugnance has been overcome by very warm expressions on the subject uttered by valued friends to whom they were shown, and by a desire that some at least who knew him in youth should be able to read what he has written.

The author trusts that neither critic nor reader will object because he has, in some cases, strayed outside the limits of his purely personal experience, in order to give a more complete view of a situation, or to bring out matters that might be of historic interest. If some of the chapters are scrappy, it is because he has tried to collect those experiences which have afforded him most food for thought, have been most influential in shaping his views, or are recalled with most pleasure.

CONTENTS

I
THE WORLD OF COLD AND DARKNESS
  Ancestry.—Squire Thomas Prince.—Parentage.—Early Education.—
  Books read.

II
DR. FOSHAY
  A Long Journey on Foot.—A Wonderful Doctor.—The Botanic System of
  Medicine.—Phrenology.—A Launch into the World.—A Disillusion.—
  Life in Maryland.—Acquaintance with Professor Henry.—Removal
  to Cambridge.

III
THE WORLD OF SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
  The American Astronomical Ephemeris.—The Men who made it.—
  Harvard in the Middle of the Century.—A Librarian of the Time.—
  Professor Peirce.—Dr. Gould, the "Astronomical Journal," and the
  Dudley Observatory.—W. P. G. Bartlett.—John D. Runkle and the
  "Mathematical Monthly."—A Mathematical Politician.—A Trip to
  Manitoba and a Voyage up the Saskatchewan.—A Wonderful Star.

IV
LIFE AND WORK AT AN OBSERVATORY
  A Professor, United States Navy.—The Naval Observatory in 1861.—
  Captain Gilliss and his Plans.—Admiral Davis.—A New Instrument
  and a New Departure.—Astronomical Activity.—The Question of
  Observatory Administration.—Visit from the Emperor of Brazil.—
  Admiral John Rodgers.—Efforts to improve the Work of the
  Observatory.

V
GREAT TELESCOPES AND THEIR WORK
  Curious Origin of the Great Washington Telescope.—Congress
  is induced to act.—A Case of Astronomical Fallibility.—
  The Discovery of the Satellites of Mars.—The Great Telescope
  of the Pulkova Observatory.—Alvan Clark and his Sons.—A Sad
  Astronomical Accident.

VI
THE TRANSITS OF VENUS
  Old Transits of Venus.—An Astronomical Expedition in the 18th
  Century.—Father Hell and his Observations.—A Suspected Forger
  vindicated.—The American Commission on the Transit of Venus.—
  The Photographic Method to be applied.—Garfield and the
  Appropriation Committee.—Weather Uncertainties.—Voyage to
  the Cape of Good Hope.—The Transit of 1882.—Our Failure to
  publish our Observations.

VII
THE LICK OBSERVATORY
  James Lick and his Ideas.—Mr. D. O. Mills.—Plans for the Lick
  Observatory.—Edward E. Barnard.—Professor Holden.—Wonderful
  Success of the Observatory.

VIII
THE AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC WORK
  The Orbits of the Asteroids.—The Problems of Mathematical
  Astronomy.—The Motion of the Moon and its Perplexing
  Inequalities.—A Visit to the Paris Observatory to search for
  Forgotten Observations.—Wonderful Success in finding Them.—
  The Paris Commune.—The History of the Moon's Motion carried back
  a Century.—The Harvard Observatory.—The "Nautical Almanac" Office
  and its Work.—Mr. George W. Hill and his Work.—A Wonderful
  Algebraist.—The Meridian Conference of 1884, and the Question
  of Universal Time.—Tables of the Planets completed.—
  The Astronomical Constants.—Work unfinished.

IX
SCIENTIFIC WASHINGTON
  Professor Henry and the Smithsonian Institution.—
  Alumni Associations.—The Scientific Club.—General Sherman.—
  Mr. Hugh McCulloch.—A Forgotten Scientist.—The National Academy of
  Sciences.—The Geological Survey of the Territories.—The Government
  Forestry System.—Professor O. C. Marsh.—Scientific Humbugs.—
  Life on the Plains.

X
SCIENTIFIC ENGLAND
  My First Trip to Europe.—Mr. Thomas Hughes.—Mr. John Stuart Mill.
  —Mr. Gladstone and the Royal Society Dinner.—Other Eminent
  Englishmen.—Professors Cayley and Adams.—Professor Airy and
  the Greenwich Observatory.—A Visit to Edinburgh.

XI
MEN AND THINGS IN EUROPE
  A Voyage to Gibraltar with Professor Tyndall.—The Great Fortress.
  —"Whispering Boanerges."—A Winter Voyage in the Mediterranean.—
  Malta and Messina.—Advantage of not understanding a Language.—
  German Astronomers.—The Pulkova Observatory.—A Meeting which
  might have been Embarrassing.—From Germany to Paris at the Close
  of the War.—Experiences at Paris during the Commune.—The Greatest
  Astronomer of France.—The Paris Observatory.

XII
THE OLD AND THE NEW WASHINGTON
  Washington during the Civil War.—Secretary Stanton.—
  The Raid of General Early.—A Presidential Levee in 1864.—
  The Fall of Richmond.—The Assassination of President Lincoln.—
  Negro Traits and Education.—Senator Sumner.—An Ambitious Academy.
  —President Garfield and his Assassination.—Cooling the White House
  during his Illness.—The Shepherd Régime in Washington.

XIII
MISCELLANEA
  The Great Star-Catalogue Case.—Professor Peters and the
  Almagest of Ptolemy.—Scientific Cranks.—The Degrees of the
  French Universities.—A Virginia Country School.—Political Economy
  and Education.—Exact Science in America before the Johns Hopkins
  University.—Professor Ely and Economics.—Spiritualism and
  Psychic Research.—The Georgia Magnetic Girl.

THE REMINISCENCES OF AN ASTRONOMER

I

THE WORLD OF COLD AND DARKNESS