caption death_date death_place birth_place influences image_size nationality field birth_date article_title name alma_mater
jonathan homer lane may 3 , 1880 washington d.c. geneseo , new york charles grafton page 150px american astrophysics august 9 , 1819 jonathan homer lane
 jonathan homer lane yale university
jonathan homer lane

jonathan homer lane -lrb- august 9 , 1819 , geneseo , new york -- may 3 , 1880 , washington d.c. -rrb- was an american astrophysicist and inventor .
his parents were mark and henrietta -lrb- née tenny -rrb- lane and his education was at the phillips academy in exeter , new hampshire .
he graduated from yale university in 1846 .
he worked for the u.s. patent office , and became a principal examiner in 1851 .
in 1869 he joined the office of weights and measures , a part of the department of the treasury that later became the national bureau of standards .
lane was particularly interested in astronomy , and was the first to perform a mathematical analysis of the sun as a gaseous body .
his investigations demonstrated the thermodynamic relations between pressure , temperature , and density of the gas within the sun , and formed the foundation of what would in the future become the theory of stellar evolution -lrb- see lane-emden equation -rrb- .
simon newcomb , in his memoirs , describes lane as `` an odd-looking and odd-mannered little man , rather intellectual in appearance , who listened attentively to what others said , but who , so far as i noticed , never said a word himself . ''
newcomb recounts his own role in bringing lane 's work , in 1876 , to the attention of william thomson who further popularized the work .
newcomb notes , `` it is very singular that a man of such acuteness never achieved anything else of significance . ''
the crater lane on the moon is named after him .
