Evening star., 1897-03-11
SIN ON NEWCOM B
The Veteran Astronomer to Retire
From the Navy Tomorrow.
His LONG SCIENTIFIC CAREER
Work as Superintendent Of the
Nautical Almanac.
HONORS CONFERRED ON HIM

Prof. Simon Newcomb. who retires from
the navy and the superintendency of the
Nautical Almanac tomorrow leaves a
markable record of public service. through
which he has become one oil the foremost
savants in the world. During the forty
wears which have elapsed since he first be-
Came connected with the Nautical Alma
nae office, and especially during the twenty
years of his SUPPLEMENTARY, he has done
more than any other American since
Franklin to make American learning re-
spected and accepted in European coun-
tries. Today every astronomer in the
world uses Newcombs determination of
the movements of the planets and the
moon; every eclipse is computed according
to Newcomb's tables; every nautical alma
mac is based on the determinations of the
Washington office; and the shipping of the
civilized world is guided either by the
American Nautical Almanac or by ephem-
erides based on Newcomb's work.
His Long and Active Career.
Simon Newcomb born in Wallace. Nova
Scotia March II, 1888, was the eldest
of a teacher of American descent, whose
ancestors settled in Canada in 1861. He
came to the United States in 1853, and
spent two or three years teacher in
Maryland. While so engaged he became
acquainted with Joseph Henry, then secre-
tary of the Smithsonian institution, and
julius r. HilSard, superintendent of the
United States coast and geodetic survey.
who were greatly impressed by his apti-
tude for mathematics, and in 1851 secured
his appointment computer on the
United States Nautical Almanac. The Of
flee of the Nautical Almanac was then in
Cambridge. which gave Newcomb oppor
tunity to enter the Lawrence Scientific
School, from which he graduated in 1888.
and afterward remained three years a
graduate student While in Cambridge
and occupied both AS a computer and a
student, he found time to plan and execute
one of the most ambitious pieces of astro-
nomic work undertaken up 10 that date
This was the computation of the orbits of
the asteroids-that singular group of min
iature planets revolving about the sun be-
tween Mars and Jupiter. The current
theory (knOWn as Olber'S hypotheSS) was
that these bodies We're the fragments of a
disrupted planet. 1t was supposed in ac-
cordance with the hypothesis, that all of
the orbits would intersect at a cereain
point, unless the assumed explosion were
remote that secular variation might
have modified the orbits. No one had at
tempted to calculate the positions of the
orbits with such accuracy as TO determine
whether the disruption dated hundreds.
thousands or hundreds of thousands of
years in the past. NeWcomb's first calcu-
latiCnS were made on four of the asteroids
IN lS.'3 ara attracted nuch attention when
presented at the meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science
at Springfield, where he exhibited a dia-
gram showing the changes in the orbits
during period of many thousand years.
In 1850 he published general ma themat-
ical theory of the subject. applying il to
larger number Of these little planets, and
this publication at once gave the young
computer an international reputation.
Transferred to This City.
In 1851 Newcomb was appointed profess
sor of mathematics in the United States
navy, and transferred to Washington;
there he negotiated for the 26-inch equa-
torial telescope of the old naval observa-
tory, supervised it's construction and
planned the tower and dome in which the
then famous instrument was mounted. In
1870 he was commissioner to observe total
eclipse of the sun visible on the Mediterra-
mean, and established a station at Gibrai-
tar. Unfortunately the usual observations
We're prevented by clouds, but the oppor-
tunity utilized in extending certain
original studies concerning the minor mo-
tions of the moon. Lunar tables showing
the recognized motions of the moon We're
alreaoy in existence, notably those con-
structed by Hansen and published by the
British government in 1851; but even before
1870 it vas found that the observed posi-
tons of our satellite did not correspond
with the computed positions shown
by error in the calculation of the eclipses
and in other ways; yet the problem detied
the combined skill of the mathematicians
and astronomers of the world With his
genius for tasks deemed inSurmount BILE
by others, Newcomb had already set him.
self to the solution of the problem, and
while abroad he visited the various old OBJ
servatories of Europe, and consulted the
earliest records eXtant. Although most
Of the European countries We're then either
in open warfare or resting on their guns
the American astronomer, whose reputation
had preceded him, welcomed every
where. The records at Paris were especial
ly voluminous, requiring six weeks for ex-
animation; and. although the city was be-
sieged during most of this time, Prof. and
Mrs. Ne" comb lived in the observatory,
and the work carried on in a room
shaken by the cannoradng, whife~the flash
of guns was frequently visible from the
windows. The task was not abandoned un-
til the problem of the motion of the moon
was solved, and until formulae were de-
veloped for constructing accurate lunar
tables. This triumph gained fresh laurels
Tor the young astronomer throughout the
world. and brought him official recognition
from different nations.
Elements of the Solar System.
Although the two tasks just noted were
everywhere regarded by astronomers as of
unprecedented magnitude, they were in
reality but steps toward the accomplish
ment Of a very greater task which New
comb had already set for himself; this
herculean labor was the accurate deter
mination of the elements of the solar
sy STEM" including the measurement of the
dimensions, weights, and orbits of the
principal planets. the larger asteroids, and
the more important satellites, or planetary
moons. This work was carried forward in
connection with official duty as oppor-
tunity offered. So early as 1867 he pub
lished a final memoir on the secular va
riations of the orbits of the asteroids; this
was followed in 1874 by results of inves-
LEGATIONS concerning the orbit of the planet
Uranus; the final researches of the mo-
tions of the moon were published In 1876:
and other results Of the work were placed
before the public at frequent intervals in
official reports, well in unofficial sci
entfic papers. In 1877 he was made super
intendent of nautical almanac Office, and
given additional facilities for carrying for
ward the laborious task, which is now
practically completed. The details of the
work fill volumes, and are so complex and
elaborate as hardly to be summarized.
Most Of the busy people of the fin de steele
will be satisfied to know that all Of the
elements Of the entire solar system are
interrelated in such manner that the de-
tel mination of any one-e.g., the revou-
ticn period or yeal-aids in establishing
all the others; and that, proceeding
this basis. the sun and moon and larger