National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-18
ASTRONOMY ABROAD.
ENGLISH HoNoRs TO PROFESSOR NEW.
COMB, OF WASHINGTON.

ENGLISH HoNORS TO PROFESSOR NEW.
COMB, OF WASHINGTON.
An occasional correspondent OF the New York
Tribune, writing from London, says:
The occasion Of the presentation Of the highest
~ @ TO 81 ae ss
omer-in-chief Of the United States Observatory, Ut
Washington, called together distinguished sci
February is, in Somerset houss. Among those
were Ps C he de- ne
omers. In making the presentation Prot Cayiey
said: --
1.-THE council have awarded the medal to Pro.
Simon Newcomb for his tables or Neptune and
Uranus, and for his other contributions to astro-
duty has devoivcd Of explaining to Yen the
grounds Of their decision. think Il right to re-
mark that II appears to mo that In the award Of
not bound to institute o comparison between het-
erogeneous branches Of . science or classes Of
rescarch.to weigh. for instance, mathsmatis.
physicf; or in the several branehes respectively
the happy idea which originates . theory agsinst
carries Il out: and stii less 70 decide
merits Of different workers In the science. It ID
enough that the different branches Of science
should, in every case, Be bestowed a. . recoGnI-
ton 81 high merit In some important branch Of
The president then described ct great length
and very technically tho earlier works Of Prof.
Newcomb and then passing ON to his later laborsy
which have won hin the high homer Of the gold
sProL Newcomb's tablesof Uranus have only
recently appeared: They are pub!ished In the
Smithsonian cortiibutions, under the title .An
erai Tables Of Its Notion, accepted for publlca-
tion February, 1s7A forming . volume " about
a. Saee = b.. the Il
rst amounted to little moro than tentative efforts
to obtain numerical data Of sanlcienf Accuracy to
Sa;s r ~ me sSy spd 70
turbations. First the elements Of Nepsuns had
to be corrected, which led to his investigation 70
snsn s
widely from the truth to serve the basis Of the
work, and they were Professionally corrected by .
observations extending FROM lIsl to 1851. Finally
Il was found that the adopted method Of computing
the perturbation for the variation Of the Gle
q .Bs aa Vi, e t sSos: o.
the second order. in regard to the disturbing
awhile entertaining high opinion Of Hauss.'s
method, - at once generally practicable and fully
developed, the author coneeived that IL was on the
whole Rreis,.en tS cypress II: psrtnrba.iocs
which the results Of different nvestigations could
be compared and corrections - to the theory h.
worked out the method dsscrib.S n the rSs chap.
ter OF his treaties, not closely examining how
much II contained that Was essentially new. With
these improved elements and methods the work
occupied him during the subsequent i've year,;
and though aided By computers every part 81 the
work has been done under his immediate direction
and es nearly a. possible h the same way o. II he
had done it himself: result in some cases oh.
tanned only BY an amount Of labor experimenting
to that saved BY the employment Of the COM
e concluding his remarks President Caylsy
. Professor Neweom0's writings exhibit, all Of
then, comoinatiOu, on tho one hand, Of mathe-
matical skill and power, and on the other hand,
science TSs % sSs Snss
highly original Mss, and cannot but s. rsssrded
q great step IN adyaocs in the method Of the
nsmics generally; The two sets Of planetary IA
suits only sttainsbls BY the exercise Of such labor
seS ~: 81 II 4.
Of astronomy. I trust that, inperfsctiy q my
tssr t = - sseeo@plisnsd We have done we'll IN the
Prof Csyley then delivered the medal to Or.
HugEInl, the foreign secretary, and rcoaestod
him to trhnsmit 1t TO Prof Newcomb, ms - ex- |
precision Of the opinion Of the society Of the e.
ce!lenes and inportanee Of what he has accom- |
best wishes for his health and happinese and for |
the long and successful continuation Of his career
- worker IN our scisncs." -
DESCRIPTION or THE MEDAL.
Ths medal is about two inches IN diasaeser. and
Is most beautiful specimen OF coinage. On one |
re y bar the head Of Newton pufroundsd By
Royal AssroncmIcai Society, Just:- Mpcccxx
"Nsbem pelleute rnathed."
:. % ne s5vsrss q es.,s Representation Of
"Quiequid nitst notandum.
= Simon NsWcemb, ls5R