tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28951476367032821012024-03-27T18:38:41.080-07:00SkywatchersRichard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-73481936969961392502020-01-01T15:59:00.000-08:002020-01-01T15:59:17.993-08:00Fossil Hunters, Biographers, and Chas. Insco Williams
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fossil Hunters, Biographers and Chas.
Insco Williams</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Skywatchers
readers, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please
bear with me in these first four paragraphs while I set up an analogy that will
be exemplified at the end of this essay…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
a Tyrannosaurus’s skeleton or millenias-old Hominid jawbone is found,
paleontologists are usually able to tell us the nearly miraculous way they were
preserved in rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The typical process I
remember reading about was that a corpse was quickly buried by river silt which
prevented oxygen from decomposing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ages passed with more sand burials, and the bones petrified in their sandstone
matrix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually a fossil hunter wins a
grant for exploration because of her insight about probable burial locations; she
chips and scrapes away rock layers and uncovers a prized specimen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes a scientist’s analysis and
explanation of the burial scene provides us with a description of the animal’s
last moments, perhaps even what led to its death; reading the rock tells the
fateful story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People’s
life events are preserved by the written word in documents: their birth dates and
parents’ names, school sports feats, graduations, marriages, work achievements,
awards, failures, and their death dates and places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our lives are recorded in lines of printers’
ink and on social media pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time
these pages accumulate in layers in archives, waiting for the probing
biographer to locate and open the correct one. Then, the writer can reconstruct
a biographical narrative from a life’s sequence of events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fossil
hunters and biographers have a lot in common task-wise. Displaying a new fossil
specimen requires assembling scattered bones that were freed from a rocky
matrix; publishing a person’s life narrative means sequencing life events found
in scattered texts in archives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However,
many peoples’ biographies are not written even though their facts are archived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They await the investigator whose interests
lead to the archive with their records. I consult archives containing records
about astronomers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how I have
publicized people whose vitae may not have been cited beyond a death notice, or
an obituary in a newspaper or online funeral notice. My privilege has been to
introduce <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Skywatchers’</i> readers to
some little-celebrated lives; people who have engaged in observational
astronomy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, that was their ticket
to a memorial on these pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to
unearth accounts of those people who have studied the heavens; I believe that
readers would like to know about them.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Popular Astronomy</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">’s
volumes are the archives I often peruse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Its 1934 tome contained two lines of print about a man named “Chas.
Insco Williams” who had submitted a sky watch report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was one of the citizen scientists who
assisted astronomer Charles P. Olivier to record ‘shooting stars’ during 1933’s
Leonid display.[1,2,3]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams reported
his address as, ‘Eglinton’ in King George County, Virginia about 80 km from
where I live. I became curious about him simply because he had lived so nearby.
[1, 2]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams had counted Leonid
meteors during the height of the shower’s 1933 return, when Olivier had cautiously
hoped a stupendous ‘storm’ of meteors would fill the sky. Specifically, Williams
spent 8.5 hours during two early mornings, on November 16 and 17, waiting for
the sky to fill with fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That never
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he did count 32 Leonids on
the 16th and 9 the next day. [3] He also reported that he had company during
those predawn hours because he noted that “we” had watched meteors. [3] </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So
there were three questions to answer: who had Charles Insco Williams been,
where was Eglinton located; and who were his meteor watch companions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ancestry.com
has been a dependable go-to archive when I need to learn someone’s history, but
it disappointed me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It did not reveal a
specific person to the prompt of ‘Chas. Insco Williams, Eglinton,
Virginia.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it did have two
‘Charles Insco Williams’ in its databases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One was born in 1853 and had been a noted architect; the second was born
in 1906 and had been an executive for a refrigerator manufacturer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately those men had lived in Ohio and
additional information about them showed that neither had lived in Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compounding the confusion over Charles’
identity, my colleague, Tim Manley found a third man with the same three names
who had been born in 1873 in My Heritage.com’s database.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had Charles number 3 migrated to
Virginia?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did any of the three Charles
have a summer cottage or estate in Virginia that he called Eglinton?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Locating
Eglinton was frustrating too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scrutiny
of a King George County geographical map, where Williams had claimed residence
did not show Eglinton. I wrote to the King George County Historical Museum in
King George, the county’s seat, asking if staff had records identifying
Williams and his residence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The staff
had no information about either one. So, I was stumped with the same two
mysteries: who was Williams and where did he live?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Investigating
Williams online and by postal mail had reached a dead end <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing left to do but take a field
trip to a regional historical archive in Fredericksburg, about 10 miles (16 km)
west from King George village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a
breakthrough, its online search engine had revealed some documents related to a
Charles Insco Williams who had lived locally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, it contained letters written to Williams in his role as
Secretary of Fredericksburg’s Masonic Lodge No. 4. [4] There was also a music
score and lyrics written for Fredericksburg’s James Madison High School’s song that
was attributed to him. That score provided a crucial clue that led to
identifying the correct Charles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had
been published by “E.H.S. Williams.” [5]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
that publisher’s name was entered into Ancestry.com’s search engine, the 1930
U.S. Census’ database offered ‘Elsie H. S. Williams.’ And she had had a husband
named Charles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had been 57 years old
in 1930, so he was the Charles who had been born in 1873! [6] <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At last the correct Charles was known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 1930 Census showed the Williamses to have
lived in King George County, but not precisely where: ‘Eglinton’ was not
mentioned as a location. The most direct way to locate their residence was to consult
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed Books</i> in the county’s
Circuit Court Clerk’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, it
was the correct place to look: in 1931, Elsie had purchased 25 acres from another
county resident; the parcel was on the western outskirts of King George
village. [7] </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8mNgVgIHK8JEf6oDdxSVzjgmXk8AIzqdclBvxMVhv-G0ie1SXhjpiT5mypGXxpo6LL-E7KIUx_VW_YT1dUA1THmlMGwLdaHXQ6lAmLLSvxXedFKDXaJ1YNOqcVqYc6cNjavltW-9R-g/s1600/Eglinton+plat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8mNgVgIHK8JEf6oDdxSVzjgmXk8AIzqdclBvxMVhv-G0ie1SXhjpiT5mypGXxpo6LL-E7KIUx_VW_YT1dUA1THmlMGwLdaHXQ6lAmLLSvxXedFKDXaJ1YNOqcVqYc6cNjavltW-9R-g/s640/Eglinton+plat.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Her
property’s location was found on a county real estate plat, but neither the
plat nor the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed Book</i> entry was
labeled Eglinton. [8</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">]</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
Disappointed, I guessed Eglinton had been an informal name that the couple gave
Elsie’s property. Above, Eglinton’s location is shown as the pink-outlined area
on an excerpt from a real estate plat in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed
Book 38.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>North is toward the bottom
of the diagram.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The village of King
George is to the left on the State Highway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally,
we had found the correct Charles, Eglinton’s location, and his Leonid watch partner’s
name; I assumed that the “we” Williams had referred to in his report to Olivier
was a reference to Elsie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although those
three data points were exciting by themselves, they only furnished a skeleton
sketch of the sky watching couple in 1933 Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tim and I wanted a description of them with
more ‘meat on the bones.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
persistence, we succeeded in finding more information which filled out our
understanding of the couple: meaty ‘bones’ were added to the skeleton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newspaper accounts as well as the high school
song gave evidence of Charles’ musical performance and composition skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though he claimed in the 1940 U.S. Census
that he was a “retired artist” [13], there was better evidence that he had had
a successful career in music. [11, 12, 15] Elsie’s newspaper and Census records
show that she had had a long-term career as an educator. [6, 10, 14]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 1910 Census reported that the couple had
had a son born in 1904 and a daughter in 1907. [16] A newspaper obituary documented
Charles’s death in 1940. [9] Elsie published Charles’ song posthumously in 1941
[5] and she sold Eglinton for $100 on May 30 of the same year. [17] Elsie relocated
to Ohio after Charles’ death to live with their daughter Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elsie died in 1960 at age 83. [10] She and
Charles are buried together in a rural family‘s private cemetery in Louisa
County, Virginia. [9, 10] <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4CNpYicuHG_3IINNQVzOdqY6Od3T6V4IWQoJFyWLXmYKRJ0MfsDlzhdubuMq90maxTe_ihiJ7sxrHWFeORbSazDrnr0lSkKGBqHtz69paO8a-8eiLnjs2GWcRmUZuH6GGF9P3UGU5Ko/s1600/Photo+15+Elsie+Williams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="923" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4CNpYicuHG_3IINNQVzOdqY6Od3T6V4IWQoJFyWLXmYKRJ0MfsDlzhdubuMq90maxTe_ihiJ7sxrHWFeORbSazDrnr0lSkKGBqHtz69paO8a-8eiLnjs2GWcRmUZuH6GGF9P3UGU5Ko/s320/Photo+15+Elsie+Williams.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
photograph of Elsie H.S. Williams taken from an unknown local newspaper circa
1936.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Courtesy
of King George County Historical Museum, King George, Virginia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
retrospect, Charles’ 1933 report in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy </i>was a fact that served as analog to a fossil hunter’s discovery
of a fossilized bone fragment: it led to ‘digging further’ to find more. As Tim
and I explored more archival strata, the history of Charles and Elsie Williams
emerged as a coherent whole instead of remaining buried in scattered records.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">References</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]
Olivier, C. P, 1933. Bulletin 14, List of Members, American Meteor Society, p.4</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]
Olivier, C. P, 1934. Bulletin 15, List of Members, American Meteor Society, p.4</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]
Olivier, C. P, 1934. Meteor Notes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>, volume 42, pp.100 and 102</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]
Messrs Timberman and Uhlman, 1930.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two letters
to Williams from Masonic Lodge Officers in Northern Virginia. Central
Rappahannock Heritage Center, File number </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2017-001-019-001 </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]
Williams, C. I., 1941.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The James Monroe
High School Song, words and music by</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Charles Insco
Williams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King George, Virginia: E.H.S.
Williams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Central Rappahannock Heritage
Center, File number 2007-044-004</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]
United States Census for 1930; Rappahannock Magisterial District of King George
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>County, Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Household of Elise (sic) H. S. Williams,
Husband: Charles S. (sic) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Williams</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]
King George County, Virginia <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed Book 43</i>,
p. 84.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Purchase date was May 9, 1931.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]
King George County, Virginia <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed Book 38</i>,
p.636<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams’ property location was </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>deduced using a plat that accompanied
this deed.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]
C. Inscoe (sic) Williams Buried in Louisa. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free
Lance Star</i> (Fredericksburg, VA), </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>August 24, 1940, p. 1</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]
Long Illness Fatal to Mrs. Williams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free Lance Star</i> (Fredericksburg, VA),
October 5,</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>1960 </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[11]
Charles Insco Williams, Musician, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Palladium-Item</i>
(Richmond, Indiana), February 5, 1900, </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>p.4</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[12]
Musical Club Recital, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Palladium-Item</i>
(Richmond, Indiana), March 17, 1900 p.4</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[13]
United States Census for 1940; Jackson District of Louisa County, Virginia;
House hold of </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dr. S.F. Hart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lodger there: Charles I. Williams, “retired
artist”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[14]
School Officials Meet in Fredericksburg, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Northern
Neck News</i>, volume 57, number 22, </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>October 25, 1935, p.5</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[15]
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1901 City Directory, Cincinnati, Ohio</i>,
p.1857</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[16]
United States Census for 1910; Westmoreland County, Virginia, House hold of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Charles Williams </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[17]
King George County, Virginia <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed Book 50</i>,
p. 528.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Acknowledgements</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
had help to ‘unearth’ the facts in this detective saga; Timothy P. Manley was
the able investigator who shared the laborious searches needed during the ten
months it took to reconstruct Charles and Elsie’s story.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ms.
Elizabeth Lee, Historian at the King George County Historical Museum allowed me
to use a 1936 newspaper photo of Elsie Williams, who was the first Principal of
King George County High School, opened in 1927.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ms. Lee also provided a history of Willow Hill, the general area where
the Williamses had lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Staff
members of Central Rappahannock Heritage Center in Fredericksburg helped Tim
and I find photocopies of Charles’ correspondence and a high school’s song he
wrote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Staff
at the King George County Circuit Court Clerk’s office helped Tim and I locate
property deeds and real estate plats in its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deed
Book</i>s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-5027884376368136292019-03-15T09:50:00.001-07:002019-03-15T09:50:57.942-07:00Meteor Watching Mariners
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Meteor
Watching Mariners</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">During the last 18
years, I’ve had the opportunity to read many meteor watch reports that were made
by historical as well as by present-day observers.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I recall that the vast majority of those
people were situated on dry land when they stood their watches.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Only a very few ocean-going observers’ names
or reports came to mind.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When I
discovered those old accounts, considering that they are so rare, they caught
my attention and stayed in my memory.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Perhaps
you will find the following accounts of sea-going meteor watchers to be of
interest for the same reason. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">One such maritime
astronomer was George Lyon Tupman (1838-1922).<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>He was a Captain in the British Royal Marine Artillery during the years 1869
to 1871.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Having had a lifelong interest
in astronomy, he sketched meteors on star charts while aboard the HMS Prince
Consort during an assignment on the Mediterranean Sea [1].<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>His collection of 2000 meteor path drawings led
him to publish a catalog of 102 ‘radiants,’ places in the night sky from which
his meteors emanated [2].<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What made his
radiants so useful is that his south-of-Europe vantage point gave him access to
southerly constellations and consequently to radiants northerners could not detect.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">My historical research
failed to discover any more oceanic meteor watchers until some were named by
Charles P. Olivier (1884-1975) in his ‘Meteor Notes.’<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He was a professor of astronomy whose
research became well-known for improving scholars’ knowledge about meteors. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>His ‘notes’ were published in a nine-or-ten-times
a year magazine named, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They were mostly intended for members of the American
Meteor Society which Olivier established in 1911.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The notes kept his amateur astronomer
colleagues up to date concerning outcomes of research projects in which Olivier
had asked them to participate.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In the mid-1920s, Olivier
urged members to report extremely bright meteors, called ‘fireballs’ that they
had happened to see.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Fireballs are at
least as bright as the planet Venus, but can be brighter than the full
moon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When one of the latter explodes
during a dark night, the experience can be alarming-and temporarily blinding.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In an October 1927 article [3] Olivier
coached AMS members on the crucial aspects of fireball appearances that they
should be sure to report.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Consequently,
many motivated land-based observers used his instructions when they saw and
reported fireballs.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But eager to gather
meteor data from as wide a geographical region as possible, Olivier urged naval
personnel and merchant seamen to report fireballs they saw while in coastal and
open ocean waters.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">One sea-going AMS
member paid attention to Olivier’s call.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Throughout 1928, a British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship’s officer, E.E.
Laurence reported 13 fireballs.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He had
seen them as his ship made five roundtrips between Las Piedras, Venezuela and
Bayonne, New Jersey.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He had been alert
for them while on the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Olivier was impressed by the Briton’s batch
of fireballs and lauded Laurence, “Special mention should be made of our member
Third Officer E. E. Laurence of the British S.S. Olna, who contributed 13
(fireball observations.)<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
completeness of his records make them specially valuable [4].”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>At that time scientific opinion was divided
about whether fireballs were interlopers from other solar systems or were
members of ours.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>High quality data like
Laurence’s helped Olivier learn about the origins of each fireball. It was
hoped that as data accumulated the origin issue could be clarified.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Olivier prized data like Laurence’s because
of its usefulness for what Olivier called the ‘technical side’ of meteor
astronomy.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">I was fascinated with Laurence’s
accomplishment because he was the only mariner/AMS member to report fireballs so
soon after Olivier’s call to members. I wanted to know more about him because I
am interested in knowing how people manage time for meteor observing among life’s
demands.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And the demands upon Laurence
involved duties that kept the Olna afloat and sailing.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Unfortunately only some specifics were
learned and guesses had to be made about the rest.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Laurence was an AMS member in 1929 and 1930
as well as in 1928. However, he did not report meteors in those other years.
Perhaps his duty stations in 1928 placed him at a good shipboard vantage point
at night so that surveying the sky was easier to do.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And his duties may have changed so that he
did not have access to the night sky in 1929 and 1930; this is conjecture, but
reasonable I think.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t know how he
learned about the AMS and whether or not he was also a member of any other
astronomy group, like the British Astronomical Association.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Presumably, Laurence mailed his meteor
reports to Olivier when on shore leave in Bayonne or nearby New York City.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">I was also keen to
learn about this observer’s non-astronomical career.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Edward Eugene Laurence’s (1902-1979) career was
an interesting one.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Historical RFA and
Ancestry.com records provided many details about his life. Born at Tonbridge,
Kent in England on May 25, 1902, his father abandoned his mother, an older
brother and him in 1904. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Laurence “went
to sea” at age 14 by joining the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The RFA assisted the Royal
Navy to maintain its operational status. For example, in 1928, the Olna’s role
was to ferry crude oil from Venezuela to a Gulf Oil Refinery in Bayonne, where oil
was prepared to power British naval vessels.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Laurence was already a
seasoned RFA mariner by 1928 when he watched fireballs off the Americas’ coasts.
By the time he was 18 years old he had served during the First World War and his
wartime service earned him a medal.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Then
in 1922 Laurence had qualified to be a ‘Second Mate’ which enabled him to work
aboard ocean-crossing ships.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In 1928 he
was 25 years old and Port of New York documents recorded that he was six feet
tall and weighed 151 pounds.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>At that
time he was the ship’s Third Officer and he was intent on continuing in a
career at sea with the RFA.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In fact, he
had a distinguished career. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After World
War 2 service with the RFA, he became ship’s Master (a ship’s ‘Captain’) and
commanded four of the RFA’s ships: in 1947, 1948, 1953 and 1956. Duties and
commands had sent him to the Middle East and Far East.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>His final RFA assignment must have been from
the port of Hong Kong because he and his wife Mabel sailed from there when he
retired in 1958.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Edward Eugene Laurence had
had a 21-year retirement before his death in late 1979.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Laurence’s AMS reports stood
out from other maritime meteor reports because they were made using specific
instructions issued by Dr. Olivier in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Much more often Olivier learned
about fireballs after ships’ officers had filed the sightings with the United
States Navy’s Hydrographic Office [5].<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Such
reports, published in the HO’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hydrographic
Bulletin</i> varied in astronomical usefulness due to anecdotal content.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Nevertheless, Olivier found those reports useful
for his researches into the ‘technical side’ of fireball astronomy and he cited
several in his Meteor Notes.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Olivier sometimes
quoted the officers’ accounts of fireball pyrotechnics they had seen. One of
them, during a Leonid meteor shower on the morning of November 17, 1930 was of
a spectacular event [6].<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The reporting
mariner noted, </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 67.2px 8px 57.6px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The most remarkable meteor of the shower…appeared at
2:50 a.m. in the Milky Way just above the Southern Cross.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The coast of Haiti, 20 miles away, was
visible as in daylight.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The phenomenon
appeared larger than the sun and lasted nearly a minute.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Olivier found the HO’s
cooperation to be so helpful that he agreed to write [7] a manual describing
methods that ships’ personnel could use to calculate how high in the atmosphere
their fireballs had appeared.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However,
height determinations were only possible when the same fireball was observed from
two ships that were miles apart. In those situations, the fireball’s path
across background stars was slightly different as seen from each ship. Those
dissimilar perspectives of the identical fireball allowed a ship's officer or Dr.
Olivier to compute the fireballs’ heights in the atmosphere.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Generally, fireball heights were in the 20 to
100 mile range.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Between 1931 when his
manual was published and the start of World War 2 Olivier enjoyed complete
cooperation from the HO in gathering fireball data.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It only ended when wartime security measures
prohibited publication of the two ships’ geographical positions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Those were necessary information for finding
meteor heights, but gave the enemy information that would have doomed Allied
vessels.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">NOTES</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[1] Crommelin, A.C.D., 1923.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>George Lyon Tupman.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS),</i> 83, 247-248.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[2] Tupman, G.L.,
1873.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Results of Observations of
Shooting Stars, made in the Mediterranean in the years 1869, 1870, and
1871.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MNRAS</i>, 33, 298-312.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[3] Olivier, C.P.,
1927.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Meteor Notes.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy (P,A,),</i> 35, 533-535.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[4] Olivier, C.P.,
1929.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Meteor Notes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P.A</i>., 37, 177</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[5] Olivier, C.P., 1925.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Meteor Notes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P.A</i>., 33, 240-241</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[6] Olivier, C.P.,
1931.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Meteor Notes.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P.A.,</i>
39, 37 and 41.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[7] Olivier, C.P.,
1931.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Methods for Computing the Heights
and Paths of Fireballs and Meteors: Supplement to the Pilot Chart of the North
Atlantic Ocean for 1931.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Washington,
D.C: Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy.</span></div>
Copyright 2019 Richard TaibiRichard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-17538468779161984822017-03-22T07:48:00.000-07:002017-05-11T08:33:02.857-07:00<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Will
The Meteors Storm Again?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>19<sup>th</sup>
Century American Women Kept Watch</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Brief historical background</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">At the beginning of the
19<sup>th</sup> century, no one knew that meteor showers were discrete meteor
groups arriving on specific calendar dates and that they came from defined
regions of the<u> </u>sky. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A meteor
storm in November 1833 provoked an inquiry process that developed a knowledge
base about showers. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That display filled
the sky with thousands of meteors and fireballs that left persistent trains
behind.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Its eyewitnesses could readily
see that these ‘November meteors’ shot out of the sky from a small region in
the Leo constellation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Professor Denison
Olmsted (1791-1859) perused Yale College’s historical astronomical records and
learned that there had been bountiful displays the previous two Novembers.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>His curiosity about whether 1837 would also
see a return led him to organize a hybrid group of New Haven, Connecticut
amateur astronomers along with his Yale College students to stand watch and see
what happened in November 1837.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Olmstead
reconstituted this ‘Yale meteor squad’ in succeeding Novembers and learned that
there were returns of the month’s meteors but in much reduced numbers compared
to 1833.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Fast forward to Olmsted’s successor at Yale, Hubert
Anson Newton (1830-1896) who performed a second library search in 1863.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He learned that the November Meteors had been
giving storm performances for centuries, on about a 33-year cycle.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Newton predicted that November 1866’s sky
watchers would see another storm and that good shows might appear for a few
years after as well.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just as Olmsted
had done, Newton asked local, national and overseas astronomers to watch Leo
and report their results to him.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Newton
posted responding observers’ findings in Yale College’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science and Arts</i>, which in the 1860s was a premiere
forum for research in the physical and biological sciences.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The debut of American women</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">By 1866 there were many
more American colleges with professors of mathematics and astronomy, including
a few institutions which were dedicated to women’s higher education.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Among these were Mount Holyoke College founded
in 1837 and Vassar College in 1865.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">One astronomer who
heeded Newton’s alert was Vassar’s Professor Maria Mitchell (1818-1889).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Mitchell’s astronomical reputation was
established in 1847 when she discovered the first new comet to be found by an
American citizen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In 1866 and 1868,
Professor Mitchell assigned her students to stand watch in the after-midnight
hours of November 12 and 13.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These
young women saw impressive meteor displays.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Mitchell informed Newton that seven students witnessed 354 meteors
during a seven-hour overnight watch on November 12/13, 1866. [1] <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Two years later, five of her students were
thrilled by a better show.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Between 2:00
and 3:00 a.m. on November 14, 1868 they counted 900 meteors.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>By dawn they had tallied 3,766 during a five
hour watch!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Professor Mitchell was on
hand for the 1868 meteor surge and reported to Newton that light flashes from
distant fireballs exploding beyond Vassar’s local horizon brightened the
moonless sky more than was usual. [2]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Another 1860s-era Leonid
witness was Sarah Robinson Trumbull (1829-1909) whose social celebrity derived
from her marriage to James Hammond Trumbull, a scholarly Hartford, Connecticut
man who had been elected to multiple state offices.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She would have only been known in history as ‘Mrs.
J.H. Trumbull.’ if it were not for an early morning meteor watch on November
14, 1867.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her report of that watch in 1868’s
edition of the <i>American Journal of Sciences</i>
has preserved her identity as a citizen scientist as well.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On that morning she monitored the sky from her
home’s east-facing window while her 10-year-old daughter Annie watched through
a northwestern-facing one. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>From 4:00 to
5:00 a.m. the two counted 500 Leonids.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Trumbull also noted that in one instant she had seen five meteors dart
out of Leo. [3]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Undoubtedly there were
many more women who witnessed Leonid showers in the 1860s, but did not know
who, or how, or whether to report the startling sky spectacles they had
seen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One of these was Caroline Fletcher
Dole (1817-1914).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her eyewitness
accounts about the 1833 storm and the 1865 and 1866 showers only surfaced
because her grandson Robert M. Dole, a prominent amateur meteor observer in the
20<sup>th</sup> century, mentioned them in a family history.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Leonid meteors were not
the only ones watched</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">When the November
meteors’ numbers waned in the early 1870s, fewer American astronomers monitored
Leo. However, 1872 had a surprise spectacle in store; meteoroids (rocky
particles) from disintegrated Comet Biela flooded that particular November’s
skies with meteors from the constellation Andromeda.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This Andromedid shower did not prove to be an
annual one and so, attention to it lapsed after a while.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Fickle November showers inclined meteor
observers to pay more attention to an annually bountiful one which was known to
occur since the 1830s.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This shower, the
‘August meteors,’ later renamed the Perseid shower was observed by some young
Indianans in 1882.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">D. Eckly Hunter (1834-1892),
Washington, Indiana’s High School principal brought his children and a family friend
out to keep a four-hour Perseid watch on the night of August 10 to 11,
1882.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Hunter’s daughters were Mary and
Nora, 13 and 10-years-old respectively.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Twenty-four-year
old Frank, Hunter’s son and 22-year old Naomi Sanford completed the party.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Professor Hunter kept a record of the number
of meteors the party counted and arranged the data in 10-minute intervals.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>At the end of four hours the group had
spotted 521 meteors.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Using the era’s
terminology, Hunter reported that “270 were conformable to radiants in Perseus
or Cassiopeia and 50 were unconformable.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Two hundred radiants were not determined but most of the number were
doubtless Perseids.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just as today’s
meteor observers report, Hunter noted that the Perseids often appeared in
clusters with minutes-long lulls in between. [4]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The following year,
astronomer Daniel Kirkwood (1814-1895) summarized a report made to him about a
brilliant meteor, a ‘fireball’ that was seen by many Indiana villagers on
January 3, 1883. One couple, Mary E. (Johnston) Campbell (1836-?) and her
husband, John Lyle Campbell (1827-1904) witnessed it from separate locations.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Mary made notes of the circumstances of her
own observation which she gave to her husband, a professor of mathematics and
astronomy at Wabash College in Crawfordsville. Campbell sent Kirkwood the
details of the couple’s independent sightings.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>From the Campbells and several other people’s observation notes, Kirkwood
determined the fireball’s track over Indiana villages and its altitude and the
length of its path through the earth’s atmosphere. [5]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In 1881, Mount Holyoke
College was presented with an observatory containing an 8-inch (20-cm) Clark
refracting telescope.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>At the time, Elizabeth
M. Bardwell (1831-1899), was Mt. Holyoke’s professor of mathematics and
astronomy and director of the astronomy program. On the evening of November 27,
1885 she witnessed a second Andromedid meteor storm.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She called it “an unusual ‘star shower’” and <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>reported that “meteors were seen in all parts
of the sky, (because the) radiant was near the zenith.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She estimated the rate of the falling meteors
as “two to six per minute.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Bardwell
remained vigilant for more storm activity by holding another watch on the 28<sup>th</sup>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On the second watch she saw just a few
meteors from the radiant point in Andromeda. [6]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Marking time until the
next Leonid storm year</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For several years after
1885’s reports about the Andromedid storm there were no meteor accounts in the American
astronomical press.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It was as if American
shooting star observers had suspended routine watches and were waiting for the
next Leonid storm predicted to occur in 1899, 1900 or 1901.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, the meteor showers of 1866-1868 and
storms of 1872 and 1885 had helped increase American interest in astronomy.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The groundswell of interest created an
expanded market for new astronomical periodicals.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In 1882 Carleton College’s Professor William
Wallace Payne (1837-1928) began a new one, S<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">idereal
Messenger</i>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After eleven years, he
created a successor named <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy.</i><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Increasingly,
astronomical research and developments began to appear in these two publications. At the same time,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> American</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of Science</i> deemphasized astronomical topics perhaps due to
the death of H.A. Newton and the absence of a successor astronomer to influence
the journal.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Looking for early signs
of the next Leonid storm </span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">It wasn’t until 1895
that the Leonids were mentioned again, this time in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>. [7] They were the subject of a watch by Rose
O’Halloran (1843-1930), an indefatigable amateur astronomer who most often
monitored the cyclical changes in brightness of variable stars. O’Halloran recalled
that she had begun to suspect an early return of the November meteors in 1892
when she noticed, “an unusual number of meteors…observed about the 13<sup>th</sup>
of Nov(ember)…”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So, three years later,
on the night of November 13/14, 1895 she decided to keep a “prolonged watch”
from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. to check if the Leonids’ hourly rate augured an early
return.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It was not until well after
midnight that the shower’s radiant was high enough in the sky so she could make
a valid estimate of its strength.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When
only 18 Leonids appeared between 2:00 and 5:00 a.m., she concluded that the
shower was not about to storm imminently. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">O’Halloran followed up
her 1895 watch by two more in 1896 and 1897.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The 1896 session revealed a promising moderate increase in Leonids: 44
were seen between 2:00 and 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 14<sup>th</sup>. [8] In 1897, a
brilliant gibbous moon which “glided nearer and nearer each night to the
radiant point of the Leonids” impaired an assessment of the shower’s full
strength because its fainter meteors were impossible to see.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Nevertheless, O’Halloran estimated that those
meteors she could see were about one-quarter the number seen the year before on
the same date.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just as in 1896, this
result did not suggest to her that the shower’s meteors were about to storm
much before 1899. [9]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In 1898, Mt. Holyoke’s
Elisabeth Bardwell returned to meteoric astronomy by watching and sketching
Leonid meteors on a map prepared for the purpose and published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i> by Herbert Couper
Wilson (1858-1940), the publication’s assistant editor.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Wilson published the maps expressly for
academic and amateur astronomers to document the paths November meteors had taken.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When the paths were traced backwards they
converged on a mapped sky region that indicated the shower radiant’s location
in the sky.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Bardwell’s published map
showed 42 meteors and Wilson commented that her results were similar to her
male colleagues’.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>All of their maps disclosed
an unsuspected characteristic of the 1898 shower: the radiant encompassed the
entire Leo constellation rather than a smaller defined area which was characteristic
of previous returns. [10]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">1899: Showtime! </span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Popular
Astronomy</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">’s index of articles for the year 1900 listed 11
astronomers who had submitted observation results for the 1899 Leonids. These
men had watched the Leonids from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri and Colorado and one observer reported from
Lisbon, Portugal.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Stripped of all their
observational details, their reports supported and concurred with W.W. Payne’s assessment
of the year’s shower, in an article he entitled ‘Failure of the Leonids in
1899.’ [11] Too late, an Irish astronomer had published a warning to colleagues
that the planet Jupiter’s gravity had diverted the Leonid meteoroid stream away
from a full collision course with earth: compared to 1833’s flood of meteors,
the 1899 Leonids would be only a trickle. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Although they did not
make a summary judgment like Payne’s in their reports, several female
astronomers’ results mirrored their male colleagues’: the 1899 Leonids’ numbers
were meager.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Anne Sewell Young
(1871-1961), Mt. Holyoke’s new observatory director and an assistant, Ella
Cecilia Lester (ca. 1874-?) saw only 21 Leonids during a two-hour vigil on the
morning of November 15. [12]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">As it turned out, the
Leonid meteor rate per hour on the night of November 14/15 was better far to
the east, in India.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There Mary Etta
Moulton (1865-1933), an American missionary and former astronomy student of
Payne and Wilson’s kept a Leonid watch 75 miles southeast of Bombay (now
Mumbai).[13] <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Moulton watched the sky for
almost seven hours beginning at 11:00 p.m. on the 14th until 5:45 a.m. on the
15<sup>th</sup>.<span style="color: #1f497d; margin: 0px;"> <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span>During the interval from 1:00 a.m. to
5:27 a.m., she saw 84 Leonid meteors, for an hourly rate of 19, almost twice her
Massachusetts peers’ rate of 10 Leonids per hour.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Farther west in
Colorado the University of Denver’s Professor Herbert A. Howe’s students fared
no better even though their watch was held on the date of the predicted storm, November
16, 1899. Howe (1858-1926) had divided four coeds into two dyads. The first
pair, Mary C. Traylor and Grace M. Sater counted five Leonids between 1:00 and
3:00 a.m. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Nearby them the second team, Bertha
Brooks and Elise C. Jones, saw 14 between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m. [14] <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; margin: 0px;">C</span>learly none of them witnessed a much hoped-for meteor storm with
thousands of shooting stars per hour.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The same story prevailed all around the United States and abroad. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">No better on the cusp
of the 20<sup>th</sup> century</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Even though 1899’s
shower was such a debacle, some astronomers believed it was possible that 1900
or 1901’s could be splendid.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Vassar
College astronomy students made a maximum effort to detect a storm if it was to
occur in 1900.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Groups of them kept watch
from 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. on the mornings of November 14 and 15.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The young women counted 42 Leonids on the 14<sup>th</sup>
and 50 on the 15<sup>th</sup> for average hourly rates of no more than 13
shower meteors. 1900’s shower had been a dud just like 1899’s. [15]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">I will close this
historical summary with an account of one other American’s enterprising and intrepid
effort to report on 1901’s Leonid shower.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts (1861-1942) was born in San Francisco but moved
with her family to Paris, France where she earned a Doctor of Science degree
for a mathematical study of Saturn’s rings. [16] She became such a renowned
scientific contributor in Paris that a local aeronautical club offered her a
unique observational platform from which to view the Leonids: the car of their lighter-than-air
balloon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She was given last minute
pointers about meteoric observation methods by the Meudon Observatory’s
director just before the balloon ascended at midnight on November 15,
1901.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She had been alerted by an
astronomer colleague who viewed the Leonids the night before that she was not
to expect a great number of Leonids and in fact she only recorded eight Leonids
seen between 1:20 and 5:10 a.m. on the 16<sup>th</sup>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However the few that appeared were dramatic
members of the meteoric species.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>She
wrote that they “were generally brilliant, showing an undulating, iridescent
trail, varying in brightness and changing from blue to green, then to
red.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Because the Leonid activity was so
sparse and because the moon was nearly full, she had ample time between meteors
to survey the landscape and landmarks 500 meters (1600 feet) below. Toward dawn
the aeronaut-pilot began a descent.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her
adventure ended safely on a French meadow when the pilot finally “threw out the
anchor with one hand and with the other opened the great valve” allowing gas to
escape the balloon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“We felt a slight jolt
as the car touched the Earth,” Klumpke-Roberts reported. [17]</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A tradition was inaugurated</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The preceding sketches
amply illustrate the energy and determination that American women have devoted
to meteoric study, in particular to investigating reoccurrences of meteor
showers.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They began a tradition in
observational astronomy that succeeding generations continued to practice and
still do today.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"></span>Copyright 2017 Richard
Taibi</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">References</span></u></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[1] Newton, H.A.,
American Journal of Science, Series 2, Volume 43, p. 78. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[2] Newton, H.A.,
American Journal of Science, Series 2, Volume 47, p.118. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[3] Newton, H.A., American
Journal of Science, Series 2, Volume 45, p.78</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[4] Kirkwood, D., The
August Meteors, Sidereal Messenger, Volume 1<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,
</i>1882, p.141-2.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[5] Kirkwood, D., A
Large Meteor, Sidereal Messenger, Volume 2, 1883, pp. 8-11.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[6] Bardwell, E.M., A
Star Shower, Sidereal Messenger, Volume 5, 1885, p. 29.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[7] O’Halloran, R., The
Meteors of the 13<sup>th</sup> of November, Popular Astronomy, </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Volume 3, 1895, p. 213.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>See her biography earlier in this blog. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[8] O’Halloran, R., The
Leonids, Popular Astronomy, Volume 4, 1897, p. 453</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[9] O’Halloran, R., The
Leonids, Popular Astronomy, Volume 6, 1898, p. 51</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[10] Bardwell, E.M.,
Leonid Meteors Observed at Mt. Holyoke College Observatory, Popular Astronomy, Volume
7, 1899, p. 49-50</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[11] Payne, W.W., The
Failure of the Leonids in 1899, Popular Astronomy, Volume 8, 1900, p.15</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[12] Young, A.S. and
Lester, E.C., Observations of Leonids at Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley,
Mass.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Popular Astronomy, Volume 7, 1899,
p. 532<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[13] Moulton, M.E., The
Leonids in India, Popular Astronomy, Volume 8, 1900, pp. 104-105.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[14] Howe, H.A.,
Leonids at University Park, Colorado, Popular Astronomy, Volume 8, 1900, pp.
21-24</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[15] Editor, Leonids at
Vassar College, Popular Astronomy, Volume 8, 1900, p. 566</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[16] Bracher, K.,
Klumpke-Roberts, Dorothea, in Hockey, T., et al., Eds., Biographical
Encyclopedia of Astronomy, Volume 1, New York: Springer, 2007, p. 646.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[17] Mrs. Dorothy
Klumpke-Roberts Observed the Leonids from a Balloon, Popular Astronomy<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>Volume 11<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> 1903, pp. 220-222.</span></div>
Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-7534555217160373622016-12-04T11:08:00.000-08:002016-12-04T11:08:31.952-08:00CHARLES OLIVIER AND THE RISE OF METEOR SCIENCE
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">CHARLES OLIVIER AND THE
RISE OF METEOR SCIENCE</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">After years of research
and writing, my book, entitled as above has been published by Springer
Publishing in its Springer Biographies series.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Springer Biographies has
provided links to three portions of the book on its website that can, in early December 2016, be
accessed at:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://springer.com/book/9783319445175#"><span style="color: blue;">http://springer.com/book/9783319445175#</span></a></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The reader may especially
be interested in the second PDF download link which gives a preview of pages
41-97, a chapter entitled Enrollment Began.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The website also contains a list of the book’s eleven chapter titles.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Charles
Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"> provides a reader with
several biographical and historical topics.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Among them are a biography of Dr. Olivier from 1884-1936, a history of
his American Meteor Society from 1911-1936, accounts of the Society’s
accomplishments, detailed biographies of 90 amateur astronomer-colleagues who
collaborated with Olivier, and the sagas of meteor research organizations and
astronomers, in the U.S.A and abroad, that were Olivier’s contemporaries.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-37205499441451105422014-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:002014-09-13T14:08:01.842-07:00Dear Skywatchers readers
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Dear
readers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Skywatchers</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">I
want to thank you for visiting my blog, and especially the considerable number
of you who return more than once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
also gratified that many new readers find this site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both groups add about 100 visits a month to
the tally of people who have looked in on these biographies since I first
posted one in 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Even
though no new biographies have been posted in months, I have not abandoned writing about
astronomical personalities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been ‘on
hiatus’ from this blog while writing a book-length biography of Charles Pollard
Olivier, founder of the American Meteor Society; the book will include a
history of his organization to 1936, its 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will include almost 100 biographies of
amateur meteor astronomers who assisted him from 1911-1936. The book does not
yet have a title that satisfies me, but in this short description of it you
have some idea of its contents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Closer
to the time the book is complete I will post an excerpt from it here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">It
has been interesting to note which of the biographies here have been most
popular with readers from around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By far, Rose O’Halloran’s is a run-away favorite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Lewis Swift and Son’ and ‘Rev. Glanville’
are tied for second place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, all
the biographies are my favorites and it has been my privilege to bring these
deserving people to the attention of a world-wide audience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks
again for reading ‘Skywatchers.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Best
wishes,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Richard
Taibi<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-59061717954983170732013-05-19T20:39:00.000-07:002013-05-19T20:39:46.585-07:00F.W. Russell, Meteor Watch Organizer<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">F. W. RUSSELL, Meteor Watch
Organizer</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Born:
29 January 1845, Winchendon, Massachusetts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Died:
20 November 1915, Dallas, Texas<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Frederick
William Russell watched meteors from 1861 to 1867, often with the cooperation
of other teen-aged observers in Natick, Massachusetts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell and his friends watched meteors in an
era when there were many facts still unknown about meteors and meteor showers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Observers’ assignments were to gather basic
data about them.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today
we are accustomed to near certainty about the dates when meteor showers will
recur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not the case in the
early to mid-19<sup>th</sup> century and meteor watchers scheduled their
observations to identify these dates and determine from where in the sky meteors
emanated. Their hope was to identify meteor showers that repeated their
appearances from year to year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watches
were often made by observers who concentrated on opposite sides of the sky so
that meteors’ points of origin, called radiants, would not be missed and the
total number of meteors seen all over the sky could be counted per hour or per
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in the early 1860s it was
not certain that the ‘August meteors,’ now known as the Perseid meteor shower,
were an annual occurrence or not.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Fred
Russell’s earliest published meteor report was made when he was 16 years
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His report to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science (AJS)</i>
revealed that he was a sophisticated observer and data reporter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and Edmund L. Pray, another 16-year-old, performed
a seven-hour meteor watch on the night of 10 August to 11 August, 1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two apparently watched the sky while
back-to-back and saw 397 different meteors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Additionally, their report to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS’</i>
meteoric investigator, Edward Herrick (1811-1862), specified the number of
meteors seen each hour they watched the sky that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teenagers also kept notes about the
brightness of the hundreds of meteors seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Along with other observers’ reports, Russell and Pray’s comprehensive
account allowed Herrick to conclude that the August meteor shower had returned
in 1861 as it had in previous years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Astronomers
were not content to know that a shower returned annually; they also wished to
learn the date the greatest number of shower members appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to accomplish this, observers
planned watches on consecutive nights when showers had been seen in previous
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their nightly watches revealed
which night in the series yielded the greatest hourly meteor rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over succeeding years, astronomers were able
to clarify the calendar date of the shower “maximum,” the day when the shower’s
meteors were most numerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Fred
Russell and his young associates participated in this maximum-identifying
exercise too, by systematically monitoring the sky during a meteor shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As an example Russell performed a series of
observations for the nights of 11 through 14 November 1861 in order to identify
the night when the most ‘November (Leonid) meteors’ appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His watches’ data helped to pinpoint the
morning of 14 November as having the peak meteor rate of the 1861 shower.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meteor
astronomers also watched during moonless nights that were not previously known
to produce great numbers of shooting stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here, the goal was to determine the average number of meteors that could
be expected to occur per hour on a non-shower night. Knowing an average,
non-shower meteor rate was important because a real meteor outburst could be
confirmed by comparing the suspected outburst rate with the non-shower rate.
Russell participated in this base-rate type of data gathering too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the fall of 1861, he and two other
16-year-olds, Edmund L. Pray and George W. Hanchett, watched the skies from
September 23 to 29 and again from 1 to 7 November so that an average number of
meteors could be calculated from the hourly counts of their watch. As a result,
Russell was able to report an average of five meteors per hour, per observer,
for the September nights and five per hour for the November ones too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, in the process of keeping a
careful multi-night watch, new annually recurring showers were discovered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell and his friends witnessed a brief
meteor surge on one of the September nights but it was not confirmed in
subsequent years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, had the surge
repeated, their 1861 sighting would have been the first observation of a new, recurring
shower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Russell’s
observations were interrupted from September 13, 1862 until May 1, 1863 while
he accompanied his father Ira, a Union Army surgeon, to the senior Russell’s new
assignment: managing military hospitals in Fayetteville, Arkansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While in Arkansas, Fred served as a Union
Army Hospital Corps clerk; this war-time exposure to medical facilities, their
management and clinical practices was a preview of what a medical career might
be like.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When
he returned from Arkansas, Fred Russell appears to have learned some manpower
management skills from his father’s hospital administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell filed a meteor report of observations
made from 4 August to 13 August 1863 in which four others assisted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a practical matter, it would have been
physically impossible for him to personally carry out all watches on the nine
dates mentioned in the report. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
assistants were, J.H. Wilson, F.W. Harwood, and E.H. Wolcott and Walter G.
Bryant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first three men watched with
Russell from Natick, Massachusetts (MA) while Bryant, a 15-year-old, kept watch
in Winchendon, MA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An 1874 fire
destroyed city records for the years 1860-1870, so Wilson, Harwood, and
Wolcott’s ages remain unknown but all were likely adolescents like Fred. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Russell’s
report of the 1863 August meteors was filed with Hubert Anson Newton
(1830-1896), Yale College’s 33-year-old professor of astronomy who continued to
compile observers’ meteor reports after E.C. Herrick died in 1862.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report shows that Russell organized his
observer corps to combine forces on the nights of 10, 11 and 12 August so that
the hours of 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. were manned by observers each night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group’s meteor counts on those nights showed
the highest count on the 10<sup>th</sup> (197 August meteors) and dramatically
fewer on the 11<sup>th</sup> and 12<sup>th</sup> (35 and 43 respectively).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meteor counts gave Professor Newton one
indication that the night of August 10<sup>th</sup>/11<sup>th</sup> was likely
the meteor shower’s maximum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
most complete observer coverage was for the night of 10<sup>th</sup> August when all
four Natick observers watched from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.; and three watched from 12
midnight to 2 a.m. on the 11<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Russell impressed upon his helpers the importance of not counting the
same meteor twice and it is likely that the men watched different quarters of
the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the night Russell
paid attention to the meteors’ radiant: they came from Perseus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group’s published data showed a steady
rise in the hourly rate of observed meteors, as would be expected from a
radiant that rises higher in the sky as the night progresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 2 a.m. the Natick observers had seen 580
August (Perseid) meteors and 81 others which did not issue from Perseus (called
‘sporadics’ today).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walter Bryant saw an additional 41 meteors between
8:30 and 10 p.m. the same night from Winchendon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When all the figures were compiled and the
procedures used to count them were described, the Massachusetts teens under
Russell’s leadership had done a very creditable job for meteoric studies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Fred
Russell became a Yale College freshman at age 19 and continued to file meteor
watch reports with Professor Newton, including one of the November (Leonid) meteors
in 1865, which is in Newton’s Yale correspondence file.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On 17 October 1866, Russell wrote Newton that
he had transferred to Harvard College and asked Newton to supply him with star
charts upon which Russell could record meteor paths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drawing meteors’ paths on a chart was a more
accurate way to communicate the locations of shower meteors seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This procedure was regarded as the most
useful and least ambiguous way to record an observation session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell sent his last watch report to Newton
on 14 August 1867 concerning Perseid meteor observations from 7 to 13 August at
Winchendon, MA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last written record
of Russell’s astronomical efforts was a report from Benjamin Apthorp Gould
(1824-1896) to Newton describing an 1867 Leonid meteor watch. Gould, a
prominent astronomer, wrote that Russell had contacted him and “offered his
services” to record Leonids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell
joined Gould and Seth Carlo Chandler (1846-1913) in a two-and-a-half hour
meteor watch on the night of 13/14 November 1867.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three saw 23 meteors and Russell
accounted for 15 of them.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After
1867 Russell’s available time for meteor watches vanished under the demands of
his academic studies and professional career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He graduated from Harvard College in 1869 and went on to the University
of the City of New York to earn a medical degree. After graduation in 1870, he
joined his father’s medical practice in Winchendon and together they
established a sanitarium, called ‘The Highlands’, in which they treated
patients with “nervous diseases and the drug habit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his father’s death in 1888, Russell
directed the Highlands until 1912 when ill health forced him to retire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His memberships in the following professional
and avocational societies suggest the breadth of his interests: the Boston
Society of Neurology and Psychiatry, Society of Medical Superintendents of
Insane Hospitals, Psychological Society of New England, Society for the
Suppression of Inebriety and the Cambridge Entomological Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last membership reveals that Russell had
an ardent lifelong interest in insects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was credited with gathering and donating to science a highly regarded
collection of moths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He married Caroline
Marvin on 11 June 1872 and the couple had two daughters and a son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His eldest daughter, Rowena, married Frank J.
Hall, a Dallas physician in 1901 and in 1912, Russell and his wife went to live
with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Dr. Russell died on 20
November 1915, he was buried in a family plot in Winchendon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell was described as being genial and
sociable and he contributed his time and leadership skills to local civic
organizations and several medical professional organizations.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright
2013 Richard Taibi</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">REFERENCES</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ancestry.com
databases were consulted for ages of Russell’s watch confederates.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Eastman,
John Robie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Progress of Meteoric
Astronomy in America. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bulletin of Philosophical Society of
Washington, 1890, vol. 11</i>, pp. 328-333.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eastman’s catalog of 19<sup>th</sup> century meteor investigators and
their writings is an invaluable insight into the state of meteoric astronomy
before 1890. </span><a href="http://archive.org/details/progressofmeteor00eastrich"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">http://archive.org/details/progressofmeteor00eastrich</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed 19 May 2013.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hall,
Frank J.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obituary, Frederick William
Russell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typewritten copy from Russell’s
biographical folder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harvard University
Archives, Cambridge, Massachusetts </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Harvard
College Class of 1869, Frederick William Russell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Report
of the Secretary of the Class of 1869 of Harvard College, Eighth Report,
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1894.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boston: Rockwell and Churchill Press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russell signed his class portrait ‘Fred W.
Russell’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Harvard
College Class of 1869, Frederick William Russell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eleventh
Report of the Class of 1869 of Harvard College, Fiftieth Anniversary.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>June 1919.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr.
Frederick William Russell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psyche</i>, 1916, vol. 23, no.1, p. 25. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://psyche.entclub.org/23/23-025.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">http://psyche.entclub.org/23/23-025.html</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
Accessed 19 May 2013</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Herrick,
E.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meteoric Observations, August 10,
1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science and Art, second series, vol. 32</i>,
November 1861, p. 295.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ira
Russell Papers Inventory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Manuscripts Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Webpage:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><a href="http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/r/Russell,Ira.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/r/Russell,Ira.html</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed 19 May 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ira
Russell Letters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>University of Arkansas
Libraries, Special Collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Webpage:
</span><a href="http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/findingaids/irarussellaid.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/findingaids/irarussellaid.html</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed 19 May 2013</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hubert
Anson Newton correspondence, Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives,
Record Unit 274, Series I, Box 1, folders 1-4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>New Haven, Connecticut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Letters
cited are from F.W. Russell to H.A. Newton, as follows:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nov.
1865, this date was handwritten by Newton.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">October
17, 1866</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">August
14, 1867</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">B.
A. Gould to H. A. Newton, 1867, Nov. 14</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Newton,
Hubert Anson, Summary of observations of shooting stars during the August
period, 1863, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science
and Arts, second series, vol. 36</i>, November 1863, pp. 302-306.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Prescott,
Jan, President of the Natick Historical Society; e-mail correspondence to the
author on 14 October 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="mailto:nathissoc@rcn.com"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">nathissoc@rcn.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This address was accurate on 19 May
2013.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Twining,
Alexander C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Report on the Meteors of
November 1861, Addendum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science and Arts, second
series, vol. 33</i>, May 1862, p.148.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-73699469282697250662013-03-02T08:42:00.000-08:002013-03-02T08:42:56.208-08:00REV. W.E. GLANVILLE AND THE ZODIACAL LIGHT
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">REV. W.E. GLANVILLE AND THE ZODIACAL LIGHT<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Copyright 2013 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Several years ago I glanced through the 1915 volume
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i> and found an
interesting article about the zodiacal light (ZL).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I checked the author’s name, Rev. W.E.
Glanville, I noticed his address and was startled to find he wrote from
Solomons, Maryland a small town about 80 miles (130 km.) distant from my
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was intrigued that a Maryland
author wrote about watching the ZL in a national magazine almost a century ago.
I knew something about the light, but had never heard of Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, years later, I had the time to indulge
my curiosity about my fellow Marylander; I wanted to know about him and learn
more about the ZL too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following is
what I learned about them both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First,
the light…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">The
Zodiacal Light</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">An Experience</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Has dawn arrived already?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was annoyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The eastern sky on October 22, 2012 was
brightening and signaling the end of night and therefore my meteor watch was
ending before I was able to see ‘enough’ shooting stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I checked the time and it was a half-hour
before the earliest glimmer of dawn, called astronomical twilight, was
predicted to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh…it’s the
zodiacal light” I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gradually the
phenomenon distracted me from nearby darker vacant sky that I hoped would
produce more meteors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first the light
was a nearly formless glow south of Leo, a constellation that was a member of
the archaic zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leo was rising in
the east and the light reached nearly up to its brightest star, Regulus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The glow was so formless that I decided to
postpone more serious scrutiny for another half-hour, when it would be higher
in the sky, brighter and perhaps more defined.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Near six a.m., the light’s lower portion, nearest
the horizon was brighter but also immersed in Maryland’s airglow and housing
light pollution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Natural and man-made
lighting combined to make an indistinct foggy glow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These imperfections made tracing the broadest
part of the light nearest the horizon difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Higher up in the sky, the light had more of
the triangular shape I expected to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a vague irregular triangle whose highest point (the apex) was
just horizon-ward of Regulus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The light
reached up one-third the distance from horizon to overhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The triangle’s longest side was parallel to
the southern edge of Leo and slanted up not only toward the bright star but if
extended by imagination, pointed further up in the sky, to the right, toward
constellations Cancer and Gemini nearly overhead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The suburban sky diffused the light’s outlines
and it was only because I had seen it before and knew that it might reappear in
the autumnal morning sky that I was aware of what I could dimly see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mind wasn’t playing tricks, it was helping
me perceive the light.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Where and when can it be seen?</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fall and spring are the best seasons to see the
ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the fall, look to the east before
dawn; in the spring, look to the west just after nightfall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as in my experience you will need to
search for a triangular patch of hazy light that has the horizon as one of its
sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The triangle’s two remaining
sides slope upward in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your
site’s darkness and the air’s clarity will determine the height of the light’s
upward extent, so that a dark, dust and moisture-free sky will show you the
longest triangle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pick a night when
there is no moon and a horizon that has no artificial lighting for the best
view.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The triangular light’s direction of slope depends
upon the time of day and the hemisphere you are watching from on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the morning ZL, the light’s triangle will
slope upward to the right in the northern hemisphere; in the southern, it will
slope upward to the left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the
evening light, the triangle’s slope will be to the upper left in the northern
hemisphere; in the southern, it will slope to the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>March, April, September, and October are good
months to look for the ZL, especially when a bright moon is not in the
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">What causes the Zodiacal Light?</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(A selective history)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scientists’ attempts to answer the causal question
partially filled three centuries’ astronomical journals with conjecture and
investigation; and the most comprehensive answer was not advanced until the
past few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Glanville’s
conjecture about what caused the ZL is the way he became connected with this history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">One astronomical historian credited Gian Domenico
Cassini (1625-1712) with being among the first to make a written conjecture
about the ZL.(1)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1683, his
observations led him to believe that the light originated outside the earth’s
atmosphere, in space near the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Further, he believed that an aspect of the sun’s structure caused the
light, making Cassini’s theory a sun-centered, (heliocentric) one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cassini named the phenomenon and by his word
choice, he revealed the lingering effects of his astrological career when a
young man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in life he made
skillful telescopic observations of Saturn in which he discovered four of its
moons and a dark gap, a division, in its rings, subsequently named for
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was a man born in a time
when it was possible to be of two ‘minds’ about nature, one mind could be
empirical and scientific and the other misled by pseudoscientific beliefs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Early in life, when Cassini cast horoscopes for his
living, he was accustomed to thinking of the star patterns in the sky, where
sun, moon and planets moved, as ‘signs’ of the zodiac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As scientific astronomy became accepted, the
star patterns were called constellations and the planets moved on a path called
the ‘ecliptic,’ through some of them. Astronomy’s ecliptic was a place in space
where physical bodies moved in front of background stars, unlike astrology’s
zodiac where planets in signs were only important to a pre-scientific belief
that a person’s character could be described by the planets’ placements among
the signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But somehow, when Cassini was
58 years of age and objectively describing the constellations in which a
triangular light appeared, he slipped back into his earlier pseudoscientific
thinking mode and called them ‘zodiacal.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hence the light became ‘zodiacal’ and not ‘ecliptical.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The term ‘stuck’ perhaps because of Cassini’s
stature in the new science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Heliocentric vs. geocentric theories </span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">During the two centuries since Cassini’s study of
the ZL, the heliocentric theory evolved into the ‘meteoric theory.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Herbert Alonzo Howe (1858-1926) summarized it
in his 1896 college textbook; the ZL “is due to a countless host of meteoric
bodies revolving about the sun, and constituting a huge figure resembling in
shape a double convex lens.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(2)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> century,
there was another </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">viewpoint that was espoused by some astronomers, including
Rev. Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This opposing view was
that the ZL was located near Earth and with the Earth at its center; therefore
these theories are Earth-centered (geocentric).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One version of these was advanced by Edward Emerson Barnard
(1857-1923).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He believed that the ZL and
a related phenomenon called the Gegenschein were atmospheric phenomena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he thought the atmosphere surrounding
the Earth was responsible, Barnard’s viewpoint is the ultimate in geocentric
theories!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Defending the opposition was Simon Newcomb
(1835-1909); he believed that the observational facts demonstrated the validity
of the heliocentric/ meteoric theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Simon Newcomb was, at the turn</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, President
of the</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> American Astronomical</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Society’s predecessor organization, and
Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac Office in Washington, D.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His responsibilities were improved
calculation of the planets and their moons’ orbits and the yearly production of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Ephemeris and Nautical
Almanac</i>, used in navigation and astronomical research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He refined orbital calculations for Uranus
and Neptune and thereby improved the ephemerides for them as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His views on astronomical matters were persuasive
for many of his professional peers. (3)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Newcomb succinctly summarized the prevailing belief
about the ZL in a 1905 paper to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical
Journal (ApJ)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The ZL is commonly
conceived and described as a phenomenon extending on both sides of the Sun, in
or near the plane of the ecliptic…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Newcomb was dissatisfied with that incomplete description and went on to
write that the light’s “…possible breadth (was) left out of consideration,
except as implied in the term ‘lens shaped,’ sometimes used to designate its
form…the possible thickness of the lens has never been considered…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to remedy that bit of ignorance and
decided to travel to a site where he could make a “delineation of its complete
outline” because he regarded this as “of prime importance in defining the
ZL.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After consulting with a Swiss
geographer, he traveled to a Swiss mountain north of Lake Brienz to make his
observation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the night of July 29,
1905, one of great clarity due to its elevation of 7700 feet, he was able to
detect a glow on the northern horizon, which he believed was an extension of
the ZL north of the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In making this
report he added that he believed there was also a similar glow to the south of
the sun, “because there was no reasonable doubt of the symmetrical character of
the (ZL).” He opined, based upon his night’s observation that the light’s
“boundary is nowhere less than 35 degrees from the sun, and which is greatly
elongated in the direction of the ecliptic.” (4)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Edward Emerson Barnard became an eminent astronomer
after years of telescopic discoveries and his efforts to educate himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas Newcomb was a skilled mathematician,
Barnard’s accomplishments were in the observational realm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made his first comet discovery at age 23
with a telescope he bought with savings earned by long hours cranking the
driving mechanism of a moveable room-sized camera apparatus so that it would
keep pace with the sun’s movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Barnard’s many comet discoveries brought him fame that enabled him to
leave his birthplace, Nashville, Tennessee, and join the astronomical staff at
Lick and Yerkes Observatories where he was privileged to use the largest
refracting telescopes in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
continued to earn astronomical fame at Lick, where he used the 36-inch (91 cm.)
diameter lens telescope, to discover the fifth moon of Jupiter, the first one
since Galileo’s discovery of four moons almost three hundred years before. (5)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Barnard had an aptitude for making insightful
interpretations of what he saw through the huge telescopes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he also realized the significance of what
he saw while making casual observations of the night sky without the use of a
telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was while taking a break
from comet seeking that he first noticed the Gegenschein, an irregularly-shaped
specter of light that is almost directly opposite the sun, in a dark night’s
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barnard’s impression was that the
glow was nearby rather than deep in space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He theorized, the air on the sunlit side of the earth refracted and
focused sunlight onto the air on earth’s night side, so that it appeared as a
dim patch of light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1919, Barnard
confided to colleagues, “The Gegenschein has always seemed to me to be due in
some way to a concentration of the sun’s light by refraction in the atmosphere
as if the atmosphere acted as a spherical lens…The more I have studied the
subject the more I am convinced that the Gegenschein is simply an illumination
of our atmosphere by the sun’s light, through refraction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(6)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Barnard also ascribed an atmospheric explanation for
Newcomb’s Swiss sighting of light over the north horizon in 1905.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writing about his experience, Barnard
reported, “I have observed for a week or two in midsummer a twilight glow
passing along the north horizon for a couple of hours in the middle of the
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have watched this move from the
west…to the east, being apparently the evening twilight passing along the north
horizon…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newcomb responded to Barnard’s
contrary opinion by admitting “there is of course no absolute proof that the
light visible along the north horizon at midnight…is not a form of
twilight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phenomenon of meteors
shows that the atmosphere…surrounds the earth to a height of more than 100 or
perhaps 200 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reflection of the
sun’s rays from this rare atmosphere would produce a similar effect…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Newcomb was apparently unable to
accept his own conciliatory statement because he finished his response to
Barnard by writing, “but I think this is not the cause of the phenomenon…” (7) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was clear that mere arguments would not resolve
the theoretical dispute because the observational evidence was equivocal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newcomb and Barnard watched the same
phenomenon and drew opposite conclusions about its source.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, astronomers continued the attempt at a
resolution by any means available at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1909, one astronomer, Edward Arthur Fath (1880-1959), took a
long-exposure photograph of the spectrum produced when ZL was passed through a
spectroscope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a comparison of the
light’s spectrum with the sun’s was made there was an excellent agreement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fath concluded, “we … seem to have good
evidence to support the claim that the ZL is reflected sunlight”: the
heliocentric, meteoric theory about the light’s origin was strengthened.(8)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as late as 1923, the editor of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomical Journal</i>, Lewis Boss
(1846-1912), reviewed many observational studies, including Fath’s, and did not
believe the meteoric theory was proven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, he called for more studies. (9)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The meteoric-atmospheric theory conflict continued
through the early and middle 20<sup>th</sup> century because there was no means
to make a conclusive</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> experimental observation from above the earth’s
atmosphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The issue would be decided
if one or the other of the two following events occurred. 1) The atmosphere would
be judged the ZL’s origin if the ZL could not be seen from outside the
atmosphere on the Earth’s night side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2), But, if the ZL was detected around the sun from a position above the
atmosphere, the atmosphere was ruled out as the cause and the phenomenon would
be judged heliocentric.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Satellite Studies</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">By the 1960s a tacit assumption seemed to have been
made that the ZL’s cause was located around the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it is not surprising that satellite-born
instruments were trained on the sun to investigate the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Space-sited instrumental studies of the light
began in 1967 (10) according to the bibliographical search engine of the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/ National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Astrophysical Data System (SAO/NASA ADS).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In one, a 1968 study of the ZL was made by an
experiment onboard the Orbiting Solar Observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The experiment’s purpose was to “to monitor
the direction and intensity of polarized and unpolarized ZL in red and blue
light.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The satellite was chosen as the
best observation platform because it was to be “<u>outside the earth’s
atmosphere</u>.” (11)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the OSO’s was
one experiment that decided the theoretical dispute: the light was caused by
particles reflecting the sun’s light. The OSO results were published in a 1968
and a 1972 paper in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical
Journal.</i> (12,13)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Current knowledge about the light</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The most recent development, in 2010 is not itself
the result of another observational study but one from the use of many previous
studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ZL and interplanetary dust data
from satellite studies were entered into a computer model of the zodiacal dust
disk that surrounds the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The model’s
designers sought to learn how data known about the zodiacal dust could have
come about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Investigators learned that
ten percent of the dust was derived from asteroids colliding with each
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, they learned that 90% of the
zodiacal dust particles come from a group of comets which were gravitationally
captured by Jupiter. These ‘Jupiter Family Comets’ (JFCs) range above and below
the ecliptic plane in the same volume of space that the zodiacal dust cloud
inhabits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As these comets disintegrate,
their dust particles populate the cloud, and when illuminated by the sun their
reflection is the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The study reported
that the dust particles were from 1/10<sup>th</sup> to 2/10ths</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> of a millimeter
(100 to 200 micrometers) in size and that the particles extend one-half a
billion miles outward from the sun, up to Jupiter’s orbit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that the Earth, along with
Mercury, Venus and Mars orbit the sun among this swarm of particles. (14)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Reverend
W.E. Glanville (1866-1933)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">England</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">William Ewart Glanville was born at his paternal
grandmother’s home in London, England at St. George Hanover Square.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was born to Sarah Ewart and John Reed
Glanville on January 30, 1866. (15) His father was a coach-builder and came
from a family that lived in Cornwall for several generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could find no information about Sarah Ewart
but she and John were married in London in early 1865. (16)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In July 1870 John and Sarah took William and his
five-month-old sister to New Zealand, arriving in October.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shipboard passage was arranged for them as
‘assisted emigrants’ to the New Zealand Colony which England hoped to
populate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1871 they were among the
256,000 residents of the Colony and of the 47,000 residents of the Canterbury
Province surrounding Christchurch. (17)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1902, William told the townsfolk who hosted a birthday party for him
that the first home his father built for the family was ‘built of earth,’
followed by a frame house raised on the same site. New Zealand was his home
until he was 14-years-old when his parents sent him back to England for better
educational opportunities than he could get in the Colony. (18)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville’s first recorded action in England was to
enroll in University College of Bristol (UCB) at age 16, on June 7, 1882.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The College’s records show that he was to
study inorganic chemistry. UCB’s records show that during the 1882-1883 terms,
young Mr. Glanville was a poor student, scoring 27/100 on a mathematics
examination, 34/100 in natural philosophy (physics), 25/168 in French, and
14/100 in Latin. (19) In a 1907 letter to Edward Emerson Barnard, Glanville
recalled attending a series of lectures given in 1882 by astronomy popularizer
Richard Anthony Proctor (1837-1888); Glanville credited Proctor for eliciting
his interest in astronomy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In May, 1883 Bristol Baptist College’s (BBC)
admissions committee accepted 17-year-old Glanville to study for the
ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville may have been
influenced to become a Baptist minister by the example of his paternal uncle,
William (1846-1915).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1883, Uncle
William and his family lived in southern England, on the Isle of Wight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BBC had an arrangement with UCB whereby BBC’s
students were able to take liberal arts classes while they studied theology,
the Bible, and church administration at BBC. Glanville did not take
examinations in all the terms he could have while at UCB’s Classical and
Mathematical Department and his performance on the exams he sat for continued
to be poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the 1883-1884 terms, his
exam marks were 49/200 and 40/145 in mathematics, 23/100 in experimental
physics, 6/100 and 8/100 in Greek and Latin respectively, 20/166 in French,
40/100 in chemistry, and 43/100 in geology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>UBC records show that he did not take final exams in 1885 and it is not
clear if he attended classes that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>UBC records do not show a degree being awarded to Mr. Glanville. (19)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">At BBC, Glanville’s 1883-5 courses and examination
marks were in Hebrew, 34/100; New Testament, 65/100; Church History (A.D.
323-1000), 76/100, Sermons, 87/100; the Epistle to the Romans, 69/100.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BBC records do not show that Mr. Glanville
was awarded a degree; however because he passed its examinations, he was allowed
to secure a pastorate in the Baptist Church. (19)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Twenty-year-old Rev. Glanville may have felt elated;
he had attended two colleges and been sanctioned to begin a career in the
ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1886 was to be a memorable
year for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville began work at
his first pastorate in Coate, Oxfordshire, England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The future must have looked bright because
the young man married 18-year-old Elizabeth Purdy Millet on October 4,
1886.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years later, Glanville was
pastor of a Baptist Church in Wells, Somersetshire. (19)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, good events were not to
continue and the Glanvilles’ marriage failed and Elizabeth sued for divorce in
September 1890. (20)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About the same
time, William made arrangements to lead a church in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By late 1890 or early 1891, he had arrived in
Sheldon, Iowa. (21)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The years 1880-1890 were filled with important
events: world travel, an education more advanced than most 19<sup>th</sup>
century people had, the inauguration</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> of a life-long career in the ministry, an
exposure to astronomy, ministering to his flocks’ spiritual and human needs,
and sad familiarity with how human relationships can deteriorate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Iowa</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sheldon, in western Iowa was the town that needed a
Baptist minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The town was founded
in 1872 and named for Israel Sheldon a New York City stockholder of the Sioux
City and St. Paul Railway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the
railroad’s construction crew reached the site company surveyors selected for
the village, it was built.(21) Sheldon was only 360 miles (580 km.) east of
Wounded Knee Creek, Dakota Territory, and the site of the massacre of Sioux
Indians by the U.S. Army on December 29, 1890.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville’s arrival date is uncertain but it is possible that it was
nearly coincident with Wounded Knee; his arrival could not have been more than
a few weeks later, in January 1891. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville’s life in Sheldon is mostly
undocumented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, one finding is
that he attended the Sioux City College of Law 60 miles away and must have
commuted by rail, in order to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
College was part of the University of the Northwest in Sioux City, Iowa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The University’s centennial history reported
that the law school had a class of 14 students in January 1891 and at
graduation on June 23, 1892, William E. Glanville was one of seven men to earn
a LL.B, a bachelor of laws degree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville was probably fortunate to earn his degree when he did because
the University was teetering on the edge of insolvency and by February 1893 was
unable to pay instructors and dining room staff left due to non-payment.
(22)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville later reported that he
made good use of his legal education, “I studied the law … and have been
admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Iowa… (and) became as familiar with
(U.S.) laws as most men who were native born.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Given this preparation it was not a surprise to read a 1905 report that
he practiced law, as well as the ministry, before he left Sheldon. (23)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">While on the topic of Rev. Glanville’s post-college
education I must question and ultimately doubt a claim he made of possessing a
Ph.D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have given details about his
poor academic performance in England which alone cast doubt upon the
possibility of him being accepted to an English Ph.D. program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, indeed, inquiries to six English
university archivists revealed he had not earned a Ph.D. at any of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he lived in Iowa 1891-1895 he was a
student at the Sioux City College of Law until late June, 1892 (22), and an
active minister and lawyer in Sheldon in the years immediately thereafter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, there was no university within 200
miles of Sheldon that had a faculty capable of offering and conferring a Ph.D.
in 1895, as he claimed in a 1914 resume he provided to the Episcopal Diocese of
Maryland. Yet, Glanville continued to make a claim to a doctorate throughout
the remainder of his life and he took the claim to his grave: his grave marker
bears the inscription ‘Dr. W.E. Glanville.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To put it most charitably, I do not know how he acquired a doctorate by
1895; it is a puzzle I was not able to solve despite weeks of attempts to do
so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Glanville himself does not aid
the historian because he did not specify from where the Ph.D. came; he simply
asserted that he had one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In June, 1895 Glanville moved from Sheldon, eastward
across Iowa to become pastor of the Anamosa, Iowa Baptist Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time he arrived he had married a
second time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His new wife was the former
Ida Bassett Pooler, a widow who was six years his senior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ida (1860-1944) was a widow who brought a
daughter, Rae (1889-1962), to the union; and this marriage endured until Rev.
Glanville died in 1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ida was a
Daughter of the American Revolution and her family tradition, in addition to
his law training, may have induced Glanville to become a U.S. citizen on
October 6, 1898.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In November 1896, the
Glanvilles had a son, John Ewart (1896-1932). (24, 25, 26)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anamosa’s newspapers had frequent articles about
Rev. Glanville’s activities and judging by them he was a dutiful pastor and
active citizen in the little town of 2,000 people in 1890.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, Rev. Glanville posted notices about
the time of religious services and sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In two of these, in March 1896 and February 1897, he identified himself
as having a Ph.D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An 1899 report about
one of his public talks praised him as being a “talented and broad-gauged”
speaker and temperate in his remarks about a prominent man who had been a
severe critic of Christianity and its history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville’s sermons impressed news reporters too and they were often
repeated verbatim in print after a service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He also lent his oratorical talents to public lectures, “Discourses on
Science,” and gave a free series of them, in the county court house, from
January to April 1897; one in January was entitled “the Midnight Sky,” an early
hint of his astronomical interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
newspaper reported that his talks were “superb.” (23)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Anamosa papers frequently mentioned his pastoral
activities, from visiting the sick, to officiating at marriages and
funerals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He arranged a public farewell
for a fellow clergyman who retired in March 1902, participated in a Christmas
1902 ecumenical religious service and in April 1903 helped the Presbyterian
Church to begin its ministry in Anamosa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He agreed to substitute for the Anamosa State Prison’s chaplain who went
on leave in September 1902.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa Eureka</i> reported, on September 25<sup>th</sup>,
“Mr. Glanville attended to the prison daily; visiting the sick…speaking</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> kind
words to the inmates…the genial and friendly manner of Mr. Glanville (made)
pleasant recollections of him.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a
March 1902 edition of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa </i>Eureka,
Rev. Glanville was quoted about his ministerial philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He remarked, “A minister’s work is
multifarious and laborious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If faithful
to his duty he cannot have a lazy bone in his body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Special calls for service sometimes require
him to work seven days a week and far on into the night…The minister does not
pose in the community as a money-maker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course there is no sin in making money (but) there is no special
piety in poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a person is
condemned it is not for being rich but for being mean…Not as a money-maker,
then, but as a dealer in spiritual verities does the minister stand in the
community.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So with the foregoing body
of good works, it is no wonder that on his 36<sup>th</sup> birthday in 1902, 40
friends and</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> townspeople surprised him with a party, a gold watch and purse as
mementoes of their affection and respect. (23, 27)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Illinois</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1904, the reverend moved his family to another
congregation that was building a church in West Pullman, near Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, an economic downturn put many
congregants out of work and the church building could not be completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, deprived of a church for his ministry,
Glanville relied upon his legal training and experience and taught law at an
Illinois law college in Chicago in 1905-6. (28)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">When he returned to the ministry, Rev. Glanville had
adopted the Episcopal faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
ordained a deacon in 1907 and a priest in 1908 in the Episcopal Diocese of
Iowa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His first parish was in Farley,
Iowa in 1907 where he was a missionary for the Episcopal Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also reported being assistant pastor at
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Dubuque, Iowa 1908-1909.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After this three-year absence from Illinois,
he returned as rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Sycamore, Illinois
from 1909-1913. (29)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Glanville’s
flock in Sycamore was genuinely touched by his work among them because in 2012
St. Peter’s staff members sent me a helpful history about the reverend and his
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their predecessors a century ago
cared enough about him to maintain the record. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1907, while living in Chicago, Glanville began a
correspondence with E. E. Barnard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an
April 26, 1907 letter to Barnard, Glanville documented his self-education in
astronomy by listing the authors whose texts he had read:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Herschel, Airy, Lockyer, Ball, Flammarion,
Mitchell, Young, Proctor, and Comstock.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rev. Glanville admitted that he did “not profess to be a mathematical
astronomer (but) simply an amateur observational astronomer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, he asked Barnard’s sponsorship
to join England’s Royal Astronomical Society. (30)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville and Barnard corresponded
intermittently from 1907 until Barnard’s death in 1923.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Glanville seemed most interested in
learning Barnard’s theory about the cause of the ZL and sought Barnard’s
support in contradicting the prevailing meteoric theory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although Rev. Glanville’s extensive writings on
religious issues are outside the themes of this blog, one of his articles
relates to a ‘heavenly,’ if not astronomical topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His 1911 article, ‘A Modern View of the
Hereafter,’ is interesting because he argued that advances in science, notably
in astronomy and evolution, made obsolete centuries-old concepts of reward and
punishment, or reincarnation, after death. Perhaps not coincidental was the
death of his mother-in-law in February, 1911, the same month his article
appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Biblical World</i>
magazine. (31)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Maryland</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reverend Glanville relocated his family to Solomons,
Maryland in January 1914. There, he was rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
until 1918. (29)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Solomons today is a
trendy riverside village, at the far southern end of western-shore Maryland,
where the Patuxent River empties into Chesapeake Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been discovered by well-to-do
retirees, vacationers, boaters, and recreational fishermen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, in the 1910s, when Glanville served
there as an Episcopal priest, it was isolated from the rest of Maryland and
populated by a close-knit citizenry of 400 who engaged in a busy oyster fishing
and packing industry as well as shipbuilding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was not until 1915 that the state built a road to Solomons connecting
it to the village’s county seat in Prince Frederick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Access to Baltimore was by way of a twice-a-week
steamboat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The telephone arrived in
Solomons in 1899, the first automobile in 1910, but it was not until 1928 that
electricity came to it. (32)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">However for Glanville, the zealot of the ZL,
Solomons had an undoubted virtue: it was very dark at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He later wrote that he became “especially
interested in” the ZL’s causation when he arrived in Solomons in 1914.
(33)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A January 14, 1915 letter to E.E.
Barnard revealed that Glanville had been able to “trace the ZL easily from the
(western) horizon to Taurus about 7 o’clock each cloudless evening” during the
preceding week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The significance of his
remark is that he was able to detect the light from the western horizon almost
completely across the sky to a point about halfway above the eastern horizon,
about 135 degrees of angular measurement on the sky!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He asked Barnard if the famous astronomer had
had an opportunity to see the light from Williams Bay, Wisconsin, where Barnard
was on the staff of Yerkes Observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville also continued topics he had started in a November 21, 1914 letter
to probe Barnard’s recollections about the “size and brightness of 1) of the
Gegenschein and 2) of the ZL at Earth’s perihelion (nearest orbital point to
the sun) and aphelion (furthest point), or at times of sunspot maximum and
minimum.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 1914 letter revealed that
Glanville was attempting to marshal observational evidence for a theory that
the ZL (ZL) was actually located 850,000-one million miles from earth, a
‘near-earth’ theory, and not heliocentric as Newcomb and Cassini long before
him believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Barnard kept 20 letters sent by Glanville during the
Solomons period, 1914-1918 and they reveal that Glanville was intensely focused
on the ZL phenomenon and its possible causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During the same time period, Rev. Glanville “contributed regular observations”
to the ZL section of the British Astronomical Association (BAA), reporting ZL
sightings in 1916 and 1917 which were quoted verbatim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville also reported several Gegenschein
sightings to the BAA, which were fully quoted, in 1916.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He contributed one sighting that he believed
was a ‘lunar ZL’ caused by the soon-to-rise full moon, but the BAA section
director commented that such a report “is difficult to believe … (that it) can
be due to the full moon.” (34)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Genesis of Glanville’s earth-ring theory</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. Glanville published several papers 1915-1918,
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy (PA)</i>, a journal
published monthly 10-times per year by Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College
in Northfield, Minnesota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> published articles by professional
and amateur astronomers alike and was a very useful vehicle for disseminating
astronomical findings, news, predictions, theoretical discussions and the like
from 1892-1951.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The journal published
material that ranged from the rigorously mathematical in basis to other matter
that seemed to have a feasible rationale, but the editor made no claim to vet
the latter such submissions for scientific credibility, or to have suspect
articles reviewed by experts in the relevant specialty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Articles were probably not ‘peer reviewed’ in
the current sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville’s first
article in 1915, “The ZL, its Place in the Solar System”, was an argument in
favor of the ‘earth ring’ theory which he believed fit observational facts
gleaned by himself and other observers of the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He explained that the earth ring was a
geocentric belt of material between the moon and the Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He believed it was “comparable, say, to the
“crepe” ring of Saturn.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saturn’s crepe
ring was a well-observed faint ellipse of light inside the brighter and more
prominent Saturnian rings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville
further elaborated about the earth ring, “it is not intended that the ZL band
corresponds in every respect to the crape ring of Saturn…(but) the points of
resemblance suggested by the word ‘comparable’ are 1) that like Saturn’s ‘crape
ring’, the ZL is a planetary ring and 2)…it is well-nigh transparent.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the article, Glanville concluded,
“the theory of the earth ring fits the (observational) facts more fully than
any other theory.” (35)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville mentioned that he was supported in his
beliefs by the similar conclusions of Rev. George Jones, A.M. (1800-1870), a
U.S. Navy Chaplain, who watched the ZL from aboard ship for two years,
1853-1855.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jones was “not a professional
astronomer but…a man of scholarly aptitudes, of masculine common sense…his
skill and trustworthiness (were) attested by professors of astronomy and
mathematics of that day at Harvard, Yale and the U.S. Naval Academy.” (35)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may be that Glanville identified with
Jones because of how similar he perceived himself personally to be to Jones. It
may be too that Glanville arrived at his conclusions in a similar way to Jones,
having made some observations at sea during his voyage to England from New
Zealand or from England to the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
described the evolution of Jones’ thinking as follows,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">“While strenuously resolved not to begin his
observations with any preconceived theory of the place of the ZL in the solar
system, Chaplain Jones states that after a few month’s observations, strive as
he might, he could not banish the thought that it is an earth ring and this
thought ripened into conviction by the time the cruise ended” (35)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Similarities between Jones’ life and Glanville’s in
terms of profession, education, favored celestial subject, and nautical life
experience may have made the earth-ring hypothesis overwhelming in its
persuasiveness to Glanville.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Glanville’s advocacy for ZL research</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Edward E. Barnard was the first professional
astronomer approached by Glanville to create a coordinated ZL research
effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specifically, Glanville asked if
a western hemispheric research group could be “organized under the auspices of
the Yerkes Observatory and particularly under your personal direction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a suggestion made in a July 21, 1915
letter by Rev. Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barnard was
not able to gratify Glanville’s wish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Glanville did not relinquish his hopes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville tried to advance ZL study by further
articles published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In its 1917 volume (page 143), Glanville
published a “scheme for ZL reports” in which he suggested aspects of the
phenomenon that were important to note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Published in the same volume (page 315), he advocated for a coordinated,
systematic observational program that would request observers’ cooperation
“according to a pre-arranged plan of work, both at sea level and high
altitudes, under the supervision of two standard observatories one north and
one south of the equator (and)…it would be well if the ZL sections of various
societies could arrange for such coordination of their energies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proposal was a scaled-up version of the
plan he had urged Dr. Barnard to undertake in 1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville made the grander proposal in person
at the 20<sup>th</sup></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> meeting of the American Astronomical Society which met
in New York City, December 27-29, 1916; he was elected a member earlier the
same year. (36)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville’s fervor for
the theory was such that he travelled 300 miles to preach it; he was a
‘missionary’ in the camp of the professional astronomers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville was not content to make one appeal,
however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a January 25, 1917 letter to
Barnard, Glanville repeated his desire for the program proposed at the 1916 AAS
meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He complained that ZL research
“at present, what work is being done, is too desultory and lacks coordinate cooperation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville dismissed published ZL photographs
by Andrew E. Douglass (1867-1962)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>at
Lowell Observatory by writing “(the photographs) while interesting add nothing
to our knowledge.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville apparently
considered himself the foremost thinker about the nature of the ZL and seemed
to grow impatient with professionals’ indifference to the research proposals
and information requests that he made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He remarked in the January 25 letter that Professors Percival Lowell
(1855-1916) and Vesto Melvin Slipher (1875-1969) at Lowell Observatory had
postponed operationalizing a research suggestion he made “years ago.” He
remarked peevishly that George Ellery Hale (1868-1938), the foremost
astrophysicist at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> century had ignored</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> his
request for a description of the ZL from Mt. Wilson Observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of answering Glanville directly, Hale
referred Glanville to Barnard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
long-suffering Barnard was also a target for Glanville’s displeasure when on one
occasion Barnard did not provide information that Glanville requested; he wrote
Barnard on January 17, 1917, “Your reply to my letter scarcely covers the
question on which I desire information.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And about his proposal for world-wide coordination of research, he wrote
in a March 1, 1917 letter, “I am still hopeful that by continued agitation
two…observatories…may be induced to prosecute investigations…in each
hemisphere.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I would be distorting Rev. Glanville’s character if
I did not more fully comment about his letters to Barnard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville was not always a barbarian
assaulting professional astronomy’s ramparts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville unfailingly expressed gratitude and good wishes towards
Barnard, in all 31 of the letters that Barnard retained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The letters quoted in January to March 1917
above appear to have been written in an isolated period in which Glanville’s
preoccupation with knowing the ZL’s secrets overwhelmed his ability to be
socially appropriate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the 1917
crisis, Glanville relented and contented himself with continued requests of the
famous astronomer for more observational anecdotes that Glanville appeared to
believe would confirm his pet earth-ring theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was not only a ‘taker,’ Glanville also
‘gave back;’ when Barnard asked him to measure sky positions of Gegenschein observations
in his log, Glanville did so in a letter dated March 30, 1917.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notes Barnard made upon Glanville’s letter
with the sky coordinates show that Barnard took Glanville’s data seriously and
added it to his own database.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
matter, Rev. Glanville was a contributor to astronomical knowledge; he was an
independent researcher who made thorough, well-documented observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">For his part, Barnard seemed to hold no animosity
towards Glanville for the episode above and for almost 20 years of requests by
Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The written record suggests
that Barnard was cordial in dealings with the Maryland amateur and Rev.
Glanville’s letters reveal that he visited Barnard at Yerkes Observatory on
August 14, 1917.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Barnard died on
February 7, 1923, Glanville lost a friend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Service to other Maryland parishes</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Solomons’ dark sky was a powerful stimulus to
Glanville’s astronomical efforts, but he forsook it to become rector of Holy
Innocents Episcopal Church on Eden Street under Baltimore’s light polluted
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lived in ‘Charm City,’ as its
natives called it, from 1919-1927, and he confided in 1930, that “I was
transferred to Baltimore where for the following seven years I was unable to
continue systematic observations.” (37)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville’s publication rate in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> dropped severely during his stay in Baltimore; he wrote only two
articles from 1919 to 1927.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the
local press became familiar with the city’s clergyman-astronomer and printed
his views on astronomical topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev.
Glanville’s first interview was an attack on Einstein’s theory of general
relativity; “Rev. Dr. W.E. Glanville says entire doctrine will have to be toned
down,” printed the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baltimore Sun</i> on
April 22, 1921.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sun</i> described Glanville as a “well-known astronomer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reporter quoted the reverend’s dismissive
view of General Relativity theory, “(It) will either find its proper place in
the store of scientific knowledge or will be exploded altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a theory is brought forward from time to
time, inflated like a great, beautiful bubble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There have been scores of them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glanville was apparently still assessing the virtues of Einstein’ work
two months later and asked Dr. Barnard his opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barnard’s reply in a June 15<sup>th</sup>
letter was modest, “It has been stated that there were only 12 men in the world
who understand Einstein, I am not the 13<sup>th</sup>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 1928, Rev. William and Ida Glanville moved to New
Market, Maryland in rural Frederick County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rev. Glanville became rector of Grace Episcopal Church and for Linganore
and Zion parishes and he served there until his death on March 8, 1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The small town had dark skies and Glanville
was able to watch the ZL again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
return to dark skies was coincidental with an opportunity he was given by Curvin
Henry Gingrich (1880-1951), editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy (PA).</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Glanville was
to be a compiler of readers’ ZL reports and would analyze them for Gingrich to
publish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville invited January 1928 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> readers to submit observations and to
specify “the boundaries of the light, its elongation from the sun, any changes
in its intensity, the condition of the atmosphere, the (watch session’s) exact
time and date...place of observation…(and) a diagram of each observation
showing the starry background of the heavens against which the ZL was seen
would be of added interest.” The invitation was issued in the January 1928
issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> and cooperative amateur
astronomers began to file reports soon after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This role was one that Glanville was eager to carry out and offered him
an opportunity to coordinate worldwide ZL research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His ‘Zodiacal Light Notes’ (ZLN) column
appeared several times a year from January 1928-early 1933.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In an early 1932 ZLN column, Glanville mentioned
that “slow recovery from illness” had prevented him from making as many
observations as he wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, Rev.
Glanville’s son, John Ewart, who was born in Anamosa in 1896 died on April 8,
1932.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year later, Editor Gingrich
sent a letter to Glanville inquiring why a ZLN column was late being received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was informed that Rev. Glanville had died
suddenly on March 8, 1933. (38) The 1934 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Episcopal
Convention Journal</i> had a brief obituary which noted, in part, “(Rev.
Glanville was) studious in habit, retiring in disposition, he did not mingle
much with his brother clergymen, giving himself to his people and his books,
but all who knew him intimately loved him deeply.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Edward Helfenstein, Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Maryland conducted the funeral services and noted in his
journal for March 10, 1933, “Grace (Church), New Market, conducted Dr. Glanville’s
funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interment (was) at Baltimore
Cemetery.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Rev. Glanville’s ZL Notes</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev, Glanville published forty-five of the ZLNs in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> from1928 to1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were the means of gratifying his desire
to assemble and analyze ZL observations from the entire globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opportunity to do so was one he wanted
ever since 1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recall that in the
1920s and 1930s it was not known whether the ZL was a geocentric or a
heliocentric phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, Glanville
was eager to encourage observation and, he hoped, greatly advance understanding
of the ZL and resolve the mystery of its location in the solar system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">When he coordinated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>’s column, Glanville was still a geocentrist, believing that the
ZL was located around the Earth, rather than around the sun as most professional
astronomers believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1930, he
published a ZLN (37) in which he elaborated on E.E. Barnard’s atmospheric
theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, Glanville wrote
that the atmosphere’s refractive qualities caused the ZL as well as the
Gegenschein; both were the result of sunlight being focused by the optical
properties of Earth’s atmosphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
ignored the earth-ring theory of which he had been so fond in1915 and which he
had defended so strongly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, instead
of praising the earth-ring theory, he was a partisan for the atmospheric
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, instead of the ZL being
located between the Earth and the moon, as he believed in 1915, it was located
as close as our air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without explicitly
stating the reason for his change of mind, Glanville commented, “The following (endorsement
of atmospheric theory is) presented as a small tribute to the memory of a
foremost observational astronomer whose manly kindness was unwearied to the
last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One needs, so to speak, to live
with the ZL and Gegenschein in order to attain the direct, intelligent
familiarity essential to form the basis of a theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Professor Barnard did for more than 30
years.” (37)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The majority of the ZLNs
contained contributors’ descriptions of the ZL made during observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ZL’s size in the sky, how bright it was
compared to the Milky Way, whether most of its area was north or south of the
ecliptic, impressions of color, and whether it shimmered or not were the most
frequent contents in observer reports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In many ZLNs, Glanville printed Gegenschein descriptions too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville also reported recent scientific
studies, usually spectroscopic ones of the ZL and what was discovered
thereby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quoted studies all seemed
to confirm Fath’s 1908 result that the ZL’s light was reflected sunlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the newer studies also reported
detections of atmospheric influences in the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One theoretical paper maintained that ultra-violet light produced
effects in atmospheric gases which resulted in the ZL. So, an atmospheric
theorist could yet argue that the new studies partially upheld the theorist’s
beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. Glanville’s ZLNs did not result in any final
resolution of the geocentric vs. heliocentric conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead they were a column in which observers
were able to share their work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville
was successful in realizing one long-desired hope however: observers from the
southern hemisphere as well as the north contributed observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Observers from New Zealand, Australia and
South Africa regularly sent reports to him, in addition to reports from Missouri,
Texas, Kentucky, Maryland, Japan, Mexico and Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glanville was able to make one generalization
from the bi-hemispheric reporting; it was that northern hemisphere watchers
tended to see the ZL mostly north of the ecliptic and southern watchers saw it
mostly south of the ecliptic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another
gratifying result was that professional astronomers supported his efforts
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professor Leah B. Allen of Hood
College, Maryland, Willard J. Fisher of Harvard College Observatory, E.O.
Hulbert of the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ivan L. Thomsen of Dominion Observatory, New
Zealand, and Professor Issei Yamamoto from the Imperial University, Kyoto,
Japan contributed bibliographies, observations or scientific reports.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Glanville’s historical context:
astronomers’ ZL observations 1890-1930 </span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were at least two English-language amateur
astronomical societies that monitored the ZL during the 1900-1930 time
period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were the Society for
Practical Astronomy (SPA) in the USA and the British Astronomical Association
(BAA) in the UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Alan Philip Carson Craig (1898-1959) served as the
SPA’s coordinator of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ZL and Gegenschein
observers’ efforts to monitor these phenomena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He published two reports of this SPA section’s results, in 1913 and 1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reports were published in the SPA’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monthly Register</i>, and Craig published
the 1915 summary in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>
that same year. (39) The SPA disbanded during World War I, ending organized
efforts to monitor the ZL and Gegenschein in the U.S. until after the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This void was what Rev. Glanville hoped to
fill and his publications (1915-1918) and appeals to the American Astronomical
Society (1916-1917) were the attempts he made to accomplish the goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gavin J. Burns, B.Sc. (circa 1880-1933) served as
Director of the BAA’s Aurorae and ZL Section from about 1914 until his death in
1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As early as 1903, he noted British
observers’ interest in the ZL and he published an article, ‘The Zodiacal
Light,’ describing his observational results for 1903 using an optical
aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The device allowed him to make
quantitative measurements of the ZL’s brightness and the night sky’s
illumination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the sky’s measurement
was subtracted from the ZL’s, the numerical difference was a quantitative
expression of the ZL’s relative brightness intensity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Previous to his innovation, observers were
only able to estimate the ZL’s brightness according to their own standard;
Burns believed his innovation was the first of its kind. (40)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although Burns inaugurated an instrumental
means of measurement, BAA observers ignored it, perhaps believing that human
judgment using an optical device was just as flawed as judgment without
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, his was a creative
means of quantifying a judgment that before was only made in descriptive terms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Burns compiled a first Section report in 1914, in
which he listed, verbatim, ZL reports made by BAA members published in the
first 20 volumes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of the BAA
(JBAA)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ZL observations dating back
to 1880 were listed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same report,
Burns published BAA members’ observations 1911-12, summarized the recent
results as to the ZL’s form, intensity, and color. (41)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burns’ narrative reveals that he adhered to
the heliocentric theory concerning the ZL’s location in the solar system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Burns’ second Section report, published in 1921, was
for the years 1916-April 1919 and also some from 1913-1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“W.E. Glanville (Dr.)” contributed
observations that he made during 1916 and 1917 to this report. (42)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Curiously, Glanville did not use the title
‘Rev.’ with his name when he reported to the BAA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burns’ Section report listed the names of all
contributors and each of their observations was reported in detail as they
wrote them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Glanville copied Burns’
report style when he wrote ‘Zodiacal Light Notes’ in the late 1920s and early
1930s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gavin Burns continued to publish the BAA Section
reports until his death (43), although after 1921, they appeared annually by
‘session’ of the BAA in its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Section’s work continued after Burns’ death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Considered as a body of data, it is clear
that generations of BAA members showed commitment to ZL monitoring and
recording from 1890 to 1933, the years surveyed for this history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, Section Director Burns retrieved
and published ZL observations dating 10 years before the BAA was founded in
1890.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another way to assess astronomers’ scholarly
interest in the ZL was to count the number of times ‘zodiacal light’ appeared
in the titles of astronomical articles published in amateur and professional
journals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The table below is a
tabulation of such articles 1900-1939.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The source of the data below is the bibliographical search engine of the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/ National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Astrophysical Data System (SAO/NASA ADS).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Numbers appearing in the column <u>‘No.
articles</u>,’ below, are the number of articles produced by ADS when ‘zodiacal
light’ was entered into the engine; the total number of articles for the period
1900-1939 was 195.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The accuracy of the
total, 195 is limited by the comprehensiveness of ADS’ bibliographic
inventory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reader should note that
the quantity in the column ‘<u>No. Years</u>’ is the number of years in the
decade to its left that journals contained articles with ‘zodiacal light’ in the
title; e.g., in the years 1920-1929 journals contained ‘zodiacal light’ in
titles in only seven years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <u>‘No.
by Glanville</u>’ column contains a count of the articles published by Rev.
Glanville, e.g. he wrote 16 articles 1920-1929.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ‘<u>Net No. Articles</u>’ column contains the number of articles in
the decade from which the number of Glanville’s articles is subtracted, e.g.
for 1920-1929 sixteen articles were published by authors other than
Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An additional clarification
is that journal authors in the ADS list were professional as well as amateur
astronomers who lived in the U.S. and a few countries in Europe and Asia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very few articles’ titles were in a
language other than English (but the word ‘zodiacal’ was recognizable).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"></span><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></o:p></span></u></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">ZODIACAL LIGHT<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ARTICLES 1900-1939</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Source:
SAO/NASA ADS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Decade<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>No.
Years<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No. Articles<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No. byGlanville<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Net No. Articles</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">1900-1909<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>
29<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span> 0<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>29<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">1910-1919<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>
26<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span> 6<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>20<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">1920-1929<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>
32<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>16<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>16<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">1930-1939<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>10</u><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><u>108</u><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><u>28</u><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><u>80</u><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Totals<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>35<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>195<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>50<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>145</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Assuming for the moment that the numbers in the
table are a comprehensive listing of articles,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">a few comments can be made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The decadal totals in the ‘No. Articles’
column are almost the same 1900-1929, indicating a stable production of
scholarly articles about the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
decade 1930-1939 witnessed an approximately three-fold increase in articles
compared to numbers in earlier decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A similar comment can be made for numbers in the ‘Net No. Articles’
column, except that decade1930-1939 is four times greater than 1910-1919 and it
is five times greater than 1920-1929.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
should be noted that the last column represents ‘non-Glanville’ articles, so
the increase in articles in the 1930s decade is remarkable indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is unclear exactly which factors in the
astronomical community were responsible for stimulating such an increase of ZL
articles in the 1930s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not believe
Glanville’s writings were directly responsible for the increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the increasing number of articles
written by Glanville in the 1920s and 1930s may have drawn other astronomers’
attention to the ZL phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact
that he wrote 25% of the total number of articles written 1900-1939 probably
made him moderately well-known in journals, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>, read by professionals and amateurs alike.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Assessment of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>W.E. Glanville’s contributions to
understanding the zodiacal light </span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. Glanville was a capable proponent and organizer
of ZL observation and study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
‘Zodiacal Light Notes’ column in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i> attracted observational reports from all over the world and he
was able to enlist the assistance of professional astronomers as well as
amateurs’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, because he published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>, he was able to keep
the ZL’s location debate in front of professional astronomy, which may have
stimulated some scientific research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Glanville, himself, was a skilled observer and he
published many of his own observations which he made in the 1920s and
1930s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was also successful in
encouraging others to study and report their observations of the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Although Glanville wanted to make scientific
advances in the field, he did not, perhaps because he was ill-prepared in
mathematics and advanced scientific training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Likewise, space-based discoveries showed that his instincts failed him
because he favored a geocentric theory for the ZL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Ptolemy’s better-known geocentric theory
(that heavenly bodies orbited the earth), ZL geocentric theory was doomed to be
discredited.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Copyright 2013 Richard Taibi<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I owe a great deal of thanks to more than a score of
university archivists and community librarians for biographical and academic
information about Rev. W.E. Glanville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without their assistance and suggestions, Glanville’s biography would
have been very brief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My thanks go
especially to Mary Klein, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland’s archivist, who
provided Rev. Glanville’s Episcopal Church resume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the first biographical and
professional information I had about him and led eventually to much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">England<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. Dr. Roger Hayden and Mrs. Shirley Shire,
Bristol Baptist College<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">David M. Trigg, University of Bristol <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Staff archivists, University of Cambridge<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Richard Temple, University of London<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sian Astill, University of Oxford<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pearl Romans, University of Southampton<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Illinois</span></u></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. Newland Smith, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Staff, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Sycamore, IL<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Iowa</span></u></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Julianne Allaway and Elizabeth Adams, Episcopal
Diocese of Iowa<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Meghann Toohey, University of Dubuque<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">J. Wright, Iowa Gravestones website<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Denise K. Anderson, Sarah Harris, David McCartney,
and Jacque Roethler, University of Iowa<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Becky Jordan, Iowa State University<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christie Vos and Jim Fisk, Morningside College,
Sioux City<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grace Linden and David Mook, Sioux City Public
Library<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Greg T. Brown, Woodbury County Iowa and Iowa
Genealogy<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Maryland</span></u></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mary Klein, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jan Samet O’Leary, Hood College, Frederick<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Liz Miller, Middleham and St. Peter’s (Episcopal)
Parish, Lusby<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">World-Wide</span></u></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Linda Rooke and ‘CaroleNC,’ Genealogists at
Ancestry.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Vanessa King, Victoria University at Wellington,
Wellington, New Zealand<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Teresa Gray and Molly Dohrmann, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tennessee <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amy Fitzgerald, Archives of the Episcopal Church
(USA), Austin, Texas<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">SELECTED
REFERENCES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">THE
ZODIACAL LIGHT</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">What causes the ZL?</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(1) Taton, Rene, Gian Domenico Cassini, in Charles
Coulston Gillispie, ed., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dictionary of
Scientific Biography, Volume 3</i>, New York: Charles Scribners sons; 1971, pp.
100-104, especially p. 103.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Heliocentric vs. Atmospheric theories</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(2) Howe, Herbert Alonzo; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elements of Descriptive Astronomy, a Text Book</i>, New York: Silver,
Burdett and Company; 1897, p. 222<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(3) Trudel, Jean-Louis, Simon Newcomb, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers,
Volume 2</i>, Springer, 2007, pp. 826-828.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(4) Newcomb, Simon; An Observation of the ZL to the
North of the Sun, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical Journal</i>,
volume 22, 1905, pp. 209-212.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(5) Sheehan, William; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Immortal Fire Within, the Life and Work of Edward Emerson Barnard</i>,
Cambridge, UK and New York: University of Cambridge Press, 1995, especially pp.
51, 68-70, and 422.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(6) Barnard, E.E., The Gegenschein and its Possible
Origin, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 27,</i>
1919, pp. 109-112.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(7) Barnard, E.E., Note on Professor Newcomb’s
Observations of the ZL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical
Journal</i>, volume 23, 1906, pp. 168-169.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Appended to this article was a brief rejoinder to Barnard by Newcomb,
‘Note by Professor Newcomb’, on p. 169.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(8) Fath, Edward Arthur; The Spectrum of the ZL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lick Observatory Bulletin</i>, No. 165,
volume 5, 1909, 141-143.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(9) Boss, Lewis; The ZL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 31</i>, 1923, pp. 458-463.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Satellite Studies</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(10) Alvarez, J.M.; Satellite Measurements of
Particles Causing ZL, NASA Spec. Publication, NASA-SP-150, Washington, DC:
Scientific and Technical Information Division, NASA; 1967, pp. 123-129.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(11) NASA News Release no. 65-14, Jan. 20, 1965;
OrbitingSolarObservatory-B2 Press Kit, pp. 12, 15-16 and 23.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/42469539/OSO-B2-Press-Kit"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://www.scribd.com/doc/42469539/OSO-B2-Press-Kit</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Orbiting Solar Observatory satellite and its
experiments are described.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Website
accessed February 16, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(12)Sparrow, J. and E.P. Ney, OSO-B2 Satellite
Observations of the ZL, 154, 1968, Part 1, pp. 783-787.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(13) Sparrow, J. and E.P. Ney, Observations of the
ZL from the ecliptic to the poles, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical
Journal</i>, volume 174, 1972, p. 705.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Current knowledge about the light<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(14) Nesvorny, D; P. Jenniskens; H.F. Levison; W.F.
Bottke; D. Vokrouhlicky and M. Gounelle; Cometary Origin of he Zodiacal Clound
and Carbonaceous Micrometeorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astrophysical Journal</i>, volume 713, April
20, 2010, pp. 816-836.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">REVEREND
W.E. GLANVILLE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">England</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(15) England and Wales, Free BMD Birth Index,
1837-1915, Ancestry.com database about Glanville<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(16) Glanville, Jay; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jay’s UK Glanvilles database</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ID:
19251</i> John Reed Glanville, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Found by entering Glanville’s name into Google
search engine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in Rootsweb’s
WorldConnect Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(17) Early history of and passenger lists to New
Zealand: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Zealand Yesteryears</i>, </span><a href="http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
Click on ‘M’ to locate Merope<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Website accessed February 19, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(18) Anonymous, Celebrated His Arrival on this
Planet, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Anamosa Eureka, volume 46</i>,
1902 February 6, first page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(19) Academic records provided by archivists at
Bristol Baptist College (Rev. Dr. Roger Hayden) and University of Bristol (Mr.
David M. Trigg)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(20) Ancestry.com’s English database concerning
William E. Glanville and 1890 Divorce and Matrimonial Causes records cited in
Jay’s UK Glanvilles database.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Iowa</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(21) Perkins, D., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">History of O’Brien County, Iowa</i>; Sioux Falls, S.D: Brown and
Saenger, 1897, pp. 406 and 426.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Page 80
contains the image of Rev. Glanville that appears in this blog.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(22) Orwig, Timothy; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Morningside College, A Centennial History</i>, Sioux City, Iowa:
Morningside College Press, 1994, pp. 15-26.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>University of the Northwest was a predecessor institution to Morningside
College.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(23) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa
Eureka</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa Journal</i>
newspapers for 1896 to 1937 documented Glanville’s life and career in Anamosa,
Iowa and Illinois.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newspapers are
online at <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.anamosa.lib.ia.us/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://www.anamosa.lib.ia.us/</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed February 20, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(24) United States Censuses for 1900, 1910, 1920 and
1930 furnished some marital and birth information.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(25) Green County (Iowa) Naturalization Records
Index, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hawkeye Heritage, Volume 15:4
(Fall 1980)</i>, p. 212 and US Naturalization Record Indexes, Ancestry.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(26) Iowa Births and Christenings Index 1857-1947,
Ancestry.com in re: John Ewart Glanville’s birth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(27) Anonymous, Celebrated his arrival on this
planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Friends of Rev. W.E. Glanville
present him with a gold watch and a purse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Anamosa Eureka</i>, 1902
February 6, volume 24, first page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Illinois</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(28) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa
Eureka</i>, October 5, 1905, page 5. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(29) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stowe’s
Clerical Directory of the American (Episcopal) Church</i>, published 1929 and
1932.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">This reference details Rev. Glanville’s career in
the Episcopal Church from 1907 to 1927.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, some of the information is suspect because the source may be
Glanville himself ; it contains the claims of the Ph.D. in 1895 and education
at the Universities of New Zealand and London all of which are unverified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His missionary work at Farley, IA, however,
is mentioned in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamosa Journal</i>,
June 13, 1907<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(30) Edward Emerson Barnard Papers, Special
Collections and University Archives, Vanderbilt University Library, Nashville,
TN 37203-2427; letter to EEB dated April 26, 1907.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(31) Glanville,W.E., A Modern View of the Hereafter,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Biblical World, volume 37</i>, no. 2,
Feb. 1911, pp. 107-114.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Maryland</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(32) Solomons, Maryland’s lifestyle is chronicled in
Berry, Paul, ‘How Things have changed: Solomons during the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, Part 1: 1900-1940,’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bugeye</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
Times, volume 25</i>, Spring 2000; and Solomons History webpage: </span><a href="http://www.solomonsmaryland.com/history-of-solomons.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://www.solomonsmaryland.com/history-of-solomons.html</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Accessed February 23, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(33) Glanville, W.E., Zodiacal Light Theories, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 38</i>, 1930, p.
541.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(34) Anonymous, Report of the ZL Section, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs of the British Astronomical
Association, volume 23</i>, 1921, pp. 20-32 but specifically on pp. 21, 25, 26,
31, 29, and 32.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(35) Glanville, W.E., The Zodiacal Light, Its Place
in the Solar System, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,
volume 23</i>, 1915, pp. 365-370.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(36) Glanville, W.E., Remarks on the Zodiacal Light,
Report of the 20<sup>th</sup></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Meeting of A.A.S., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 25</i>, 1917, pp. 315-316.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(37) Glanville, W.E., Zodiacal Light Theories, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 38</i>, 1930, pp.
541-548.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(38) Gingrich, C.H., Dr. W.E. Glanville, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 41</i>, 1933, p.
291.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Glanville’s historical context</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(39) Craig, A.P.C;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Second Annual Report of the Section for the Study of Aurorae, the ZL,
and Gegenschein , <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,
volume 23</i>, 1915, pp. 209-213.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(40) Burns, Gavin J., The Zodiacal Light, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Papers Communicated to the British
Astronomical Association, volume 13</i>, 1903, pp.316-318.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(41) Burns, G.J., Report of the Section, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs of the BAA, volume19</i>, 1914, pp.
41-49<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(42) Burns, G.J., The Zodiacal Light, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs of the BAA, volume 23</i>, 1921, pp.
20-32.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">(43) Parr, W. Alfred, President B.A.A., Meeting of
the BAA, Wednesday Dec. 27, 1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gavin
J. Burns’ death was announced at this meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This source was found by entering Burns’ name in the Google Search
engine on February 25, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Copyright 2013 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-48200003196909047412012-10-01T15:26:00.000-07:002012-10-01T15:26:44.797-07:00BENJAMIN V. MARSH<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BENJAMIN V. MARSH<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b>Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Born: 3 September 1818, Rahway, New Jersey<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Died: 30 October 1882, Burlington, New Jersey</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<u>Biography</u><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Benjamin Vail Marsh sent his meteor findings to professional
astronomers during the mid-1800s, when they were still making an inventory of
the sky’s meteor showers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began meteor
reporting in 1849 and continued until 1872. A twenty-three year career watching
meteors at inconvenient hours and on cold nights is noteworthy enough, but like
most amateur astronomers, Marsh had to earn a living too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did this by wholesale merchandising of dry
goods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simultaneously with the two
foregoing pursuits, he was on the staff of Haverford College almost continuously
from the date of his graduation in 1837.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marsh’s life was dedicated to supporting science, his family, and his
alma mater.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Benjamin Marsh was born to Abel and Christiana (nee Vail)
Marsh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Benjamin’s vital dates are
contained in the records of the Society of Friends, which show that Marsh was a
life-long practicing Quaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Haverford College was founded by the Quakers in 1833 and
Marsh entered it in his junior year in 1836.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As soon as he earned his degree, he taught mathematics and became an
assistant Superintendent at the four-year-old institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He held the administrative position until
1844 and again from 1860 until about the time of his death in 1882.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The versatile Marsh also acted as president
of the alumni association in 1857, a role he was to repeat in 1873.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Marsh married Frances Gummere (1825-1875) and they had a
son, John Gummere, in 1862.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frances was the
daughter of one of Haverford’s founding faculty members, John Gummere III (1784-1845).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John taught mathematics and wrote an
astronomy text that was used in instruction at the United States Military
Academy at West Point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frances’s
brother, Samuel J. Gummere (1811-1874) was an astronomer and was president of
the college 1864-1874.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and Marsh often
explored the sky using the college’s telescope. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<u>Observational Career</u><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Benjamin Marsh’s name appears for the first time in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science and Arts</i> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS</i>) in its volume for November
1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS</i> was edited by a Yale College professor, Benjamin Silliman
(1779-1864), who took the entirety of science as the journal’s subject matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its pages contained Denison Olmsted’s analysis
of the November 1833 Leonid meteor outburst and could be said to have begun
the study of meteoric phenomena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS</i>’s unofficial editor, Edward Claudius
Herrick (1811-1862) was an amateur astronomer who inaugurated the role of
meteor science chronicler in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His twice-yearly summary notes about amateur and academic astronomers’
meteor observations and theory form a crucial history documenting American
meteor work from about 1830 to 1860. Afterwards, Yale professors Alexander
Twining (1801-1884) and Hubert Anson Newton (1830-1896) alternated in
summarizing meteor studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Marsh’s
meteor results appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS</i>
continuously from 1861 until 1867 and briefly again in 1870 and 1872.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, like other astronomers, made careful
watches of what were called then the “August” and “November” meteors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We now call these annual showers the Perseids and
Leonids, respectively, because they emanate from the constellations of Perseus
and Leo, facts that were unclear in the 1830-1850 time period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newer names were adopted late in the 19<span style="font-size: large;"><sup>th</sup>
century.</span><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Marsh’s first meteor report was made as a result of watching
the 1861 August meteors with Samuel Gummere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marsh saw an extremely bright meteor at 11:23 p.m. on the night of 10
August and during the 20-second visibility of the meteor’s train he carefully
memorized its position among the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He described the train’s sky position to Professor Newton and this
allowed for comparison with the position as seen by Herrick and Twining at New
Haven, Connecticut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using trigonometry,
Herrick computed the meteor’s visible path length, about 33 miles, and its
height at the beginning and end of visibility, 70 and 54 miles, respectively,
above the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These measurements
were helpful in confirming others' measures in an era when astronomers were
still consolidating their understanding about meteor showers.<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<u>The Geminid meteor shower</u><br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
As useful to astronomers as the meteor train report was, Marsh’s
report of a bright meteor shower in 1862 led to a place in meteor history for
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until then no recurring meteor
shower was known to occur in mid-December.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Marsh suspected that an acquaintance’s sighting of 25 brilliant
meteors on 12 December 1861 was likely to be a yearly event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made the crucial follow-up observation and
his report earned him co-discoverer status with Professor Twining and Robert
Philips Greg in 1862.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Geminid
meteors’ origin in the sky, its ‘radiant’, was confirmed by Alexander Herschel
in 1863.<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
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<u>A member of the meteor research community</u><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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Marsh frequently corresponded with other meteor observers in
the United States and England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hubert
Newton’s correspondence file in Yale University’s archives contains 31 letters
from Marsh during the interval 1860-1869.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In addition to meteor shower reports that were printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AJS</i>, Marsh’s letters demonstrate that he
was a student of the aurora borealis, also called the Northern Lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His letters reveal that a friendly
relationship existed between the Marshes and the Newtons in which they
exchanged family photographs and invitations to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an 1869 letter, Marsh praised Newton’s meteorite
collection for its quality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The men
discussed advances in understanding meteoric phenomena and Marsh congratulated
Newton about his correct prediction that the Leonids would storm again in
1866.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marsh was apparently aware of
Giovanni Schiaparelli’s (1835-1910) theory that meteors were cometary debris
because he wrote Newton that the Italian’s theory was “a very plausible
solution to sundry mysteries.” Schiaparelli was the first to understand and
describe how meteors were debris from comets and that they were strewn behind a
comet, in its orbit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schiaparelli was
able to link a comet discovered in 1862 with the August (Perseid) meteors
because he noted their orbits’ similarity.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
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Marsh’s letters revealed that he frequently corresponded
with prominent English meteor astronomers, members of the Luminous Meteor
Committee (LMC), a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science (BAAS).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert Philips Greg
(1826-1906) a wealthy amateur astronomer was a LMC member who sent Marsh a star
map with meteor path plots on it for Marsh’s examination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marsh received annual BAAS reports which
contained a yearly meteor summary by the LMC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marsh donated an 1863 report to the Library of Congress and it is
currently in the Library’s collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was autographed by its author, Alexander Herschel (1836-1907), an English astronomer
who studied meteors’ chemical composition as well as their radiants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an 1867 letter Marsh wrote Newton that he
had been exchanging meteor plots with Herschel for 18 years and that his work
was included in the British Association Catalog of meteors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Richard Taibi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
REFERENCES<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Garrett, Phillip C., Editor. (1892) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">History of Haverford College for the First 60 Years of its Existence. </i>Philadelphia:
Porter and Coates, especially pp. 463-4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Glaisher, James, et.al. (1869)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Report on Observations of Luminous Meteors
1867-1868.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Report of the 38<span style="font-size: large;"><sup>th</sup>
Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at
Norwich in August 1868.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London: John
Murray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pp. 314-428, especially p. 400.</span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Herrick, Edward Claudius. (1861) Meteoric Observations,
August 10, 1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science</i>, Second series, vol. 32, November, pp.
294-5.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Herrick, Edward Claudius. (1862) Meteoric observations in
December, 1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science</i>, Second series, vol. 33, May, pp.148-9.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Kronk, Gary W. (1988)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Meteor Showers, A Descriptive
Catalog</i>. Hillside, NJ and Aldershot, Hants, UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p. 246.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Marsh, Benjamin Vail. Correspondence to Hubert Anson Newton
in Yale University Library’s Manuscripts and Archives, P.O. Box 208240, 128
Wall St., New Haven, CT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>06520-8240. Newton’s
correspondence from Marsh, reported above, is contained in Record Unit 274,
Series I, Box I, folders 1, 2, and 7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dates of referenced letters are: 7 November 1864, 10 March 1866, 28 November 1866, 10 January
1867, and 13 May 1867.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Newton, Hubert Anson. (1861) Grand Meteor of August,
1861-The August ring of Meteors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science</i>, Second
series, vol. 32, November, pp. 448-9.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Rahway & Plainfield Monthly Meeting Religious Society of
Friends, Record of Births, 1185 Births from 1706 – 1888. <a href="http://plainfieldfriends/tripod.com/birthreg.htm"><span style="color: blue;">http://plainfieldfriends/tripod.com/birthreg.htm</span></a>)</div>
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Accessed September 12, 2012<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-23916061200081974932012-07-18T14:11:00.000-07:002012-07-18T16:31:52.021-07:00ROSE O'HALLORAN<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEu_MCCFlx6-bcSUyFgkaUQgH4bT1ivqus4aA4DJfW6wNPSkWnJqX_V3eIAX0KeaHdVNwoU4qj1PP9OE0FZRiKJkmMuNzBEfiA2aEL-FfGrhmySykHsiYn0CqxpbqoSU2Z1cT9wKmIPs/s1600/Rose+O'Halloran+1895+small+cropped+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEu_MCCFlx6-bcSUyFgkaUQgH4bT1ivqus4aA4DJfW6wNPSkWnJqX_V3eIAX0KeaHdVNwoU4qj1PP9OE0FZRiKJkmMuNzBEfiA2aEL-FfGrhmySykHsiYn0CqxpbqoSU2Z1cT9wKmIPs/s320/Rose+O'Halloran+1895+small+cropped+001.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Image from an 1895 <em>San Francisco Call</em> newspaper engraving</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"> Courtesy of the Library of Congress' <em>Chronicling America</em> website,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"> <a href="http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/">http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>ROSE
O’HALLORAN</strong></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>Copyright
2012 Richard Taibi</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rose
O’Halloran (about 1866-about 1930) was determined to</span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">be</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> an</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She informed reporters that she was
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">fascinatedby the stars ever since she could remember and she read </span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">about them
as a youth. She taught herself the constellations, </span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">surveyed them with an opera
glass, and followed astronomy’s latest</span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">discoveries in the press and books.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran
said she was born in Ireland and her father, Edmond, was a man of means, a
Tipperary County land-owner and merchant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, the RootsIreland.ie website confirms that an “Edmond Halloran”
was a landowner. But all the rest of O’Halloran’s earliest history is based on
her account, for example, her birth date is not confirmed in either a civil or church document on the website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her date of birth in this biography is a
matter of conjecture and is estimated from two passenger manifests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’Halloran said her father educated his
daughters and son at private schools and had them tutored at home as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> When </span>Edmond died, his survivors were in crisis because his estate was too small to
provide a livelihood for them all. Rose needed a means of support and </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">rejecting the dependent role 19th century society ordained for women, she decided to earn a living by teaching astronomy and history.</span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Intent
on independence, wanting to be an
astronomer, and planning to teach, O’Halloran immigrated to the United States, a country where
self-determination was reputed to be part of the national character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Not only did she take the risk of residence in</span> the U. S. but she decided to live in California, a state less than 40 years old when she
arrived in San Francisco, sometime before 1888.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Still resembling a frontier town, the city was hardly respectable even
decades after the gold rush of 1848-1849.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beginning in the 1890s citizens joined a progressive movement bent on
reform and reclaiming control of local governance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women formed clubs dedicated to mutual
support and advancement by encouraging their intellectual and literary
development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as late as 1900,
San Francisco’s population of 340,000 struggled with an incompetent and corrupt
government which was said to rival the wholesale malfeasance of New York City’s
Tammany Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Politicians were bribed to
be compliant with utility companies and railroads’ schemes and to ignore
rampant prostitution in the Barbary Coast region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite these scandals San Francisco offered
refined attractions if a citizen could afford them. Many were wealthy
enough to enjoy fine dining, new hotels and entertainment by prominent
celebrities like Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore. This
was San Francisco at the time O’Halloran was a resident: simultaneously
corrupt and cultured. </span></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Astronomical
career</span></u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran’s
life became better documented after she began to live and work in San
Francisco. Her residential addresses appeared in street directories and in club
membership rosters and the dates of her public lectures were advertised in the
newspapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, she wrote
numerous articles in San Francisco’s newspapers about sky phenomena: she left a
paper trail beginning about 1891.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Articles in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco
Chronicle</i> and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Call</i>
consistently report that during the day, O’Halloran taught classes in astronomy
to girls from private schools “and convents;” and at night she opened a floor-to-ceiling window in her top-floor apartment and carried her telescope to an
adjoining roof to watch the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
informed reporters that teaching was only a means to an end: being an
astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reporters noted that even
while being interviewed her eyes were often fixed in the distance as if gazing
into the heavens that entranced her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53vwfQTGyL-Fc4Zz9kgajk8qhgPiiIqvl2VThtjPzlzPgpHlG0v56K0t7tcTs1d-VUQ45PwNzUOdEgG2KhlSTkJfX9RGArBrnW9drOQAJx5BuXrJMg_qZfOPG7x5wyyrkv4AsWNsHKnc/s1600/Rose+O'Halloran+and+Brashear+telescope+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53vwfQTGyL-Fc4Zz9kgajk8qhgPiiIqvl2VThtjPzlzPgpHlG0v56K0t7tcTs1d-VUQ45PwNzUOdEgG2KhlSTkJfX9RGArBrnW9drOQAJx5BuXrJMg_qZfOPG7x5wyyrkv4AsWNsHKnc/s320/Rose+O'Halloran+and+Brashear+telescope+001.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: small;">The caption reads: "Rose O'Halloran, the Woman Astronomer and her Pet Telescope"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> This image is from a March 10, 1895 issue of <em>San Francisco Call</em> from the <em>Chronicling</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><em> America</em> website.</span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran’s
astronomical work was first reported in 1892 when William Wallace Campbell
(1862-1938) described a paper she had presented to the Astronomical Society of
the Pacific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Campbell, a Lick
Observatory staff astronomer, noted that Miss O’Halloran ('Miss' was her preferred title)
had made 70 maps of sunspots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were
the results of 129 days of solar observations she made from November 1, 1891 to
March 31, 1892.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He credited her with
probably being the first American observer to see a giant sunspot emerge at the
limb (edge) of the sun’s disk on February 4, 1892.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She anticipated its arrival because she had
seen smaller spots disappear behind the rotating sun in January and she
continued to watch until sunspots reemerged. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the way an astronomer gained renown: persistent
watches leading to an important result. O’Halloran continued observing sunspots
from 1892 to 1913 and she published 16 reports about them in two national
journals read by professional and amateur astronomers alike: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publications of the Astronomical Society of
the Pacific (PASP) </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy (PA)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides individual
years’ observations, her years-long sunspot watch allowed her to make some
general remarks about how the number of spots had waxed and waned during the 1891
to 1903 cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her annual reports and
their summary were useful to professional astronomers who were trying to
understand how the spots formed and what their role may have signified about
radiant processes inside the sun. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Besides
watching the Sun, Miss O’Halloran was an ardent student of other stars: long
period variable stars. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often abbreviated
as LPVs, these stars typically completed one cycle of maximum light to minimum
and return to maximum brightness during a several-month period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their prototype was one discovered with the
unaided eye in 1596, about 13 years before Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) first
pointed a telescope at the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
changeable star was named ‘Mira’, the Wonderful, because at the time
fluctuating brightness in a star was astounding; stars were believed to be
changeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mira was O’Halloran’s
earliest LPV subject for study and publication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She watched the star’s brightness variations from 1895 to 1907; and in
addition to yearly reports she published a summary of Mira’s maxima in a 1907
article in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, amateur and professional astronomers were discovering LPVs at a rapid pace and Miss O'Halloran was eager to join the ranks of discoverers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An April 1894 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Chronicle</i> article reported that she had been
monitoring the stars in the constellation Scorpius beginning in 1892.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article described her procedure; she made
a nightly chart of the positions and magnitudes of stars in the target region,
with the goal of detecting those stars whose light varied cyclically during the
three-year watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although she apparently
never found a new LPV, she monitored known variables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, in 1896 when she published
results about two LPVs, named R and S Scorpii, her methodology was criticized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">John
Adelbert Parkhurst (1861-1925), an Illinois amateur intent on training other
amateurs to monitor LPVs, faulted O’Halloran for comparing R’s magnitude with
S’s instead of with a star of unvarying magnitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’Halloran’s procedure masked finding the
actual dates when each star became brightest. Heeding the criticism, she
improved her technique by consulting charts of unvarying comparison stars
supplied by the editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> and by
Edward Charles Pickering (1846-1919) the director of Harvard College
Observatory (HCO).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The time period, 1892
to 1909, when Miss O’Halloran published her LPV results was a contentious one,
when prominent astronomers argued about the best methodology to be used in
making variable star observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seth
Carlo Chandler (1846-1913) argued that only visual estimates of LPV magnitudes
were to be trusted, whereas the newer photographic methods advocated by
Pickering were touted as the most efficient and reliable way to make these
estimates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pickering offered and urged
use of charts HCO generated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same
time <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i> printed different
star charts with comparison stars for estimates to be used by amateurs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Miss O’Halloran was cognizant of the
professionals’ conflicts and in an effort to contribute useful variable star observations
she astutely cited the names of the comparison star charts she used in her studies
published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is difficult to assess the impact O’Halloran’s
LPV data had on variable star astronomy, but her contributions in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PASP </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> PA</i> from 1891 to 1909 added to the accumulated data available to
professional researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><u>City astronomer</u></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyj7riGUimGBQq0kr5xGh-ojhm0tOnObbORV7EQsanmABAKJDT0rI7DXGfnHcn_V5T2j3PLm2CbD3Ui3-ZHtD70NNBRJoeOCRK0_MOjaKywU2UJqcyJ7Rv64vPX29nwgfPQ8rkvpKTyYw/s1600/Rose+O'Halloran's+classroom+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyj7riGUimGBQq0kr5xGh-ojhm0tOnObbORV7EQsanmABAKJDT0rI7DXGfnHcn_V5T2j3PLm2CbD3Ui3-ZHtD70NNBRJoeOCRK0_MOjaKywU2UJqcyJ7Rv64vPX29nwgfPQ8rkvpKTyYw/s320/Rose+O'Halloran's+classroom+001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Caption reads: "One of Miss O'Halloran's Astronomy Classes"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Image is from the April 8, 1894 issue of the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library.</span></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many
San Francisco residents knew of O’Halloran’s teaching career because she taught
astronomy to their daughters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
broadened the scope of her educational work by seeking to be San Francisco’s
astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wrote columns in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle</i> and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Call</i> to alert citizens about current celestial events
like the Leonid meteor shower storm expected in mid-November 1900 and about a
solar eclipse on June 8, 1918.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other
articles she described advances being made, for example in a 1905 article how variable
stars’ spectra had revealed new details about the stars’ physical nature. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other articles explained astronomers’ current ideas
about the shape and extent of the Milky Way, and the nature of comets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acclaim
and recognition from professionals<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></u>
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<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
outreach to the public through local newspapers made her well known on the West
Coast and locally she was regarded to be San Francisco’s astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her biography and achievements made for good
copy; an April 8, 1894 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle</i>
article about her, ‘She Scans the Skies’, was reprinted across the nation in
Denton Maryland’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal</i>, on May 19
with a new title, ‘Fair Star Gazers”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It
was not only the media that were impressed with Miss O’Halloran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her published work earned the respect of
local astronomical professionals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey’s George Davidson (1825-1911) and his wife
knew her socially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She borrowed and read
many of his “scientific books and reviews” and he expressed the opinion that “…there
is no doubt about her knowing a great deal more than many men who are
famous…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Davidson assisted O’Halloran by
suggesting a four and one-eighth inch refracting telescope, by John Brashear (1840-1920)
as a suitable instrument for her variable star and sunspot watches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This telescope was her prized possession and
it was the tool she used to gather data for all her publications. Edward
Singleton Holden (1846-1914), first director of Lick Observatory, was so
impressed with her knowledge that he nominated her for membership in the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the only woman to be a member for many
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’Halloran’s acumen was
continually assessed too, because an author’s articles required approval by the
ASP’s Board of Directors before they appeared in the ASP’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publications</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Miss
O’Halloran’s reports passed this test 25 times between 1892 and 1906.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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</span><br />
<u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">O’Halloran’s
career compared to female astronomers of her time period.</span></u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
history of women’s entry into astronomical work is a complex one, to be sure,
but some highlights here may help put O’Halloran’s career in perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women began to be employed in astronomical settings in about the middle of the 19th century. Toward the end of the century, women astronomers were at one of two institutions: professors at eastern women's colleges or assistants at large observatories, usually under male supervision. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Female
professors at colleges usually had heavy teaching loads that often interfered
with performing research, but they could select their research topics, as
long as the topic was one the male-dominated profession deemed to be ‘women’s
work’ such as orbit determination and variable star studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women’s college astronomers had previous
academic training by male or female college astronomers. One example was Mary Whitney
(1847-1921) at Vassar College, who had been trained by Vassar’s department
chair, Maria Mitchell (1818-1889).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whitney earned a Vassar bachelor’s degree in 1868 and then spent the
next two years studying at Harvard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
received an M.A. from Vassar in 1872 and in 1881, after studying mathematics in
Switzerland she joined the Vassar astronomy department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Mitchell retired in 1888, Whitney became
Vassar’s observatory director and professor of astronomy where her research was
observing and computing orbits of minor planets (asteroids) and estimating
variable star magnitudes (brightnesses).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another professor, Anne Sewell Young (1871-1961) was trained by William
Payne (1837-1928) and Herbert Wilson (1858-1940) at Carleton College (site of
Goodsell Observatory and its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>) and she received a master’s degree there in 1897.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young became professor of astronomy at Mount
Holyoke in 1899 and she later earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1906.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young found time from teaching to monitor
sunspots and contribute the data to an international archive in Switzerland; in
addition she measured the positions of asteroids, computed comets’ orbits and
monitored variable stars at Mount Holyoke.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he
best known female astronomers were assistants to Pickering at Harvard College
Observatory. Director Pickering mapped out extensive data reduction programs in
which photographs made by male astronomers were reviewed by their female
colleagues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seemingly
banned from Harvard’s telescopes, the women were confined to desks scrupulously
examining photographs and doing repetitious computational work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, within the bounds of their assignments,
they were able to make some innovative contributions to astronomy that was of
long term value to the science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two of
the notable women astronomers were Williamina Fleming (1857-1911) who had a
background as a student teacher in her native Scotland and Annie Jump Cannon
(1863-1941), who was an 1884 Wellesley College graduate and who did further
study at Radcliffe in 1895.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fleming
developed a useful classification scheme of stars’ spectra and while examining
photographic plates she discovered many new variable stars and other objects of
interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cannon refined Fleming’s
spectral classification system which she personally applied to more than
225,000 stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The immense task required
her attention for 22 years, 1896-1918.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rose
O’Halloran’s career was different from these female astronomers’. She attended school
and had some private tutoring but no college training. She was not on the staff
of a college or observatory, but was self-employed as a teacher instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond her early formal education, her
astronomical training was self-taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’Halloran
chose the subjects of her astronomical studies and did not suffer the fate of
female counterparts at colleges or observatories whose research topics were limited
by the day’s concept of what was appropriate work for a woman astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the lack of an institutional affiliation,
she was able to publish her work directly in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PASP </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> PA</i> with only
minimal editorial review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, her
lack of professional context and advanced academic training may have eventually
limited her ability to publish: her name vanished from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publications of the ASP</i> after 1906 and from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i> after 1913.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Academic and observatory astronomers’ names began to displace amateurs’ from
these journals during the first and certainly by the end of the second decade of the 20th century. As astronomy became dominated by academically-trained professionals and research often required advanced training in physics, amateurs were less able to compete for journal space.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Her
career resembled some male amateurs’ of the late 19<sup>th</sup> Century</span></u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although
Miss O’Halloran’s career was unlike other female astronomers’, it did resemble
that of at least two other amateur astronomers, both male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These men were independent researchers (IRs)
whose sky surveys added to astronomy’s database.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their pattern was like O’Halloran’s: some
formal education, self-tutelage in astronomical observation technique and current
advances in astronomy, solo sky watches, publication in national astronomy
journals, and like O’Halloran they earned a living in an unrelated
occupation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both men were O’Halloran’s
contemporaries, actively observing and publishing during her career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
eldest of the two IRs, Lewis Swift (1820-1913) was a hardware merchant in
Marathon, New York who later relocated his business and family to Rochester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He received a few years of formal education after
he broke a hip in an accident on his family’s farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift studied an astronomy text that he
bought for a few dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
attending some lectures he bought a three-inch and later a four-and-a-half inch
telescope with which he sought comets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His success in finding them, thirteen from 1862 to 1899, brought him
fame and recognition from professional astronomers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like O’Halloran, Swift had a gift for
publicizing himself and his avocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He lectured Rochesterians about astronomy and showed them the moon and
planets through his telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His fame
and public prominence earned him the attention of two millionaires, both of
whom built him observatories to house a 16-inch refracting telescope paid for
by the citizens of Rochester who were eager to equip their astronomer neighbor
with a large telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift wrote
about his comet and nebular discoveries in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>
and in international astronomical journals like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomische Nachrichten.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Edwin
Forrest Sawyer (1849-1937) was the second IR whose career resembled
O’Halloran’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sawyer graduated from a
Boston high school and became a bank employee at age 19, a livelihood he
maintained for 64 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sawyer taught
himself meteor observation techniques and began watching meteors and plotting them
on star maps from 1872 to1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
meteor shower records resulted in two catalogs of the showers’ origin points
(called radiants) in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sawyer’s
first catalog was published in 1879 in the highly regarded <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Journal of Science </i>and the second in 1881 in the
internationally prestigious <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sawyer belonged to the Boston Scientific Society to which a number of
scientifically sophisticated amateurs belonged, including Seth Carlo
Chandler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sawyer wrote meteor-related
articles in the Society’s journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Science
Observer</i>, which was well-known locally, and by about 1883 was in demand
over much of the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he
acquired a four-inch refractor in 1883, Sawyer began to observe stars listed in
a catalog of southern stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
determined the magnitudes of more than 3000 stars, and in the process
discovered eight variable stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
published the results of this telescopic survey in 1893.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
Swift, and Sawyer were industrious and goal-oriented people who established a
niche in astronomy that still exists today: the role of the amateur as an
independent researcher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this role
amateurs serve as data providers to professionals and occasionally as
discoverers of new objects and phenomena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Miss O’Halloran’s career has one important historical aspect: today’s U.S.
amateurs practice an avocation begun by men and at least one woman.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Participation
in local organizations<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></u></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
1889 the Astronomical Society of the Pacific was founded, in part due to the
energetic advocacy of Edward Holden. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The society assembled professional and
amateur astronomers with the goal of promoting astronomical science and
education on the Pacific coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holden
nominated Miss O’Halloran for membership and the organization’s membership
roster first showed her name in 1891, the same year she began her sunspot
study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her name appeared continuously
until 1920, when the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PASP</i> ceased
publishing members’ names and addresses in its February number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’Halloran maintained an active role in the
organization and advanced to the ranks of the ASP’s Board of Directors in 1896.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years later she became one of the ASP’s
three vice presidents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She served in
both leadership positions until 1903.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
1893, San Francisco’s women established a local chapter of the Sorosis Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it were women interested in literary and
intellectual issues and who wished to be of mutual assistance to each other. Although
Miss O’Halloran’s name first appears on its 1899 roster, an 1894 newspaper
clipping suggests that she was in sympathy with the club’s purposes years
earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clipping announced that she
attended a meeting of The Women’s Congress on May 3, 1894 at which she
participated in a discussion about ‘women and science’ by reading a paper: ‘Our
Place in the Study of Infinities.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Disappointingly, there is no information about
O’Halloran’s role in the Sorosis Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her membership was current up to 1930 and suggests that she was
interested in the organization and perhaps was flourishing personally until then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">World-travelling
astronomer</span></u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Miss
O’Halloran ignored turn-of-the-century cautions about women attempting solo
long-distance sea travel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She probably
did not need the 1889 precedent of an oceanic voyage by Elizabeth Jane Cochrane
(also known as ‘Nellie Bly’), because O’Halloran had it in her character to go to
the ends of the earth in pursuit of a goal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1910 O’Halloran brought her telescope to Auckland,
New Zealand and made a year-long sky survey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she returned to San Francisco in 1912, her notes provided the material
for a ten-page observational guide which she
published in a 1913 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She illustrated the celestial tour with her sky
map drawings of the southern hemisphere’s ‘alien skies.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that she took this hazardous
expedition should not surprise us, after all, it was she who risked leaving the staid Old World to seek self-determination in America’s Wild
West.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright
2012 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">July
17, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Selected
References</span></u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Anonymous;
She Scans the Skies: Miss O’Halloran’s Recognition by Astronomers All over the
Country, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Chronicle</i>,
April 8, 1894.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved from </span><a href="http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/572690047?accountid=35117"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">http://ezproxy.sfpl.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/572690047?accountid=35117</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed on June 29, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Anonymous,
The Woman’s (sic) Congress, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Riverside
Daily Press</i>, May 3, 1894, Riverside, CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This news clipping was accessed from GenealogyBank’s online database on
June 25, 2012: </span><a href="http://www.genealogybank.com/"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">www.genealogybank.com</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Anonymous,
Sorosis, accessed on line on July 8, 2012: </span><a href="http://womenshistory.about.com/od/womansclubmovement/p/sorosis.htm"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">http://womenshistory.about.com/od/womansclubmovement/p/sorosis.htm</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">California
State Library; Author Biographical Card, 1906.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ancestry.com online database for ‘Rose O’Halloran’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed June 29, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Campbell,
W.W.; editor, Observations of the Sun in 1891 and 1892 by Miss Rose O’Halloran,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publications of the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific</i>, volume 4, 1892, p. 138.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Evelyn,
M., Hopes to Discover a New Star, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The San
Francisco Call</i>, March 10, 1897, page 7.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
article is available on the Library of Congress’s website, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicling America </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hoag,
C.C., The Sorosis Club of San Francisco 1899, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Society Blue Book</i>, San Francisco: Charles Hoag Pub. Co., 1899,
pp. 295-296.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was posted by Sally
Kaleta in 2006 on <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/s99_295.htm"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/s99_295.htm</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and accessed on July 8, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Hoag,
J.J., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Blue Book and Club
Directory</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1929-1930</i>, San
Francisco: Jed J. Hoag Publisher, 1929, p. 533.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Accessed on July 8, 2012 at </span><a href="http://www.archive.org/sanfranciscoblue1929sanf/"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">http://www.archive.org/sanfranciscoblue1929sanf/</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kurzman,
D., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Disaster!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
of 1906</i>; New York: HarperCollins, pp. 3-11.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mack,
P.E., Straying from their Orbits; in Kass-Simon, G. and P. Farnes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Women of Science: Righting the Record</i>, Bloomington
and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press; 1990, pp. 72-116.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Observations of N (sic) and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>S Scorpii,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, volume 4,</i> 1896,
p.275.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<br />
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Awaiting belated shower of Leonids, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San
Francisco Chronicle</i>, November 11, 1900.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., The Milky Way as it appears to observers of the autumn heavens; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Chronicle</i>, October 20,
1901.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Some Details of the Recent Solar Cycle, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy, volume 12</i>, 1904, pp. 27-32<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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<br />
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Probing star mysteries from a California mountain top; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Chronicle</i>, March 26, 1905.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Light Curves of Mira and W Lyrae; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy, volume 15</i>, 1907, pp. 95ff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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<br />
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Stargazing Beneath Alien Skies, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy, volume 21</i>, 1913, pp. 553-562.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">O’Halloran,
R., Humanity Pauses and Gazes Skyward during Sun </span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eclipse, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco Chronicle</i>, June 9, 1918<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Parkhurst,
J., R and S Scorpii, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,
volume 4,</i> 1896, </span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">pp. 331-332.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Taibi,
R., Edwin Forrest Sawyer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WGN, Journal of
the International Meteor Society.</i> Volume 32, 2004, pp. 87-91<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Williams,
T.R. and M. Saladyga, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Advancing Variable
Star Astronomy</i>, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp.10-21.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Winchester,
S., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Crack in the Edge of the World:
America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906</i>, New York: Harper
Collins, 2005; pp. 206-241, especially 223-225.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wlasuk,
P.T., “So much for fame!”: the story of Lewis Swift; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume 37</i>,
1996, pp. 683-707.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wlasuk,
P.T., Edward Singleton Holden, in Hockey, T. et al., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, volume 1</i>, New York:
Springer; 2007; pp. 518-519.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright
2012 Richard Taibi<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-3781830523726500162012-06-23T20:26:00.000-07:002012-07-17T18:56:33.664-07:00WESTON WETHERBEE<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WESTON WETHERBEE</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong> </strong>COPYRIGHT 2012 RICHARD TAIBI</span><br />
<br /></div>
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsXvvSdStLLjfIdRgFO0fAKoxO0UqkQiGXV15jM0YfjWYCFEG7dO3lEftydQdrkKF6m1zM3laAD6lMTKfPokP9Wub4LHgSLtyo-U3lCVVU2Qr7r2yB8lWqK-d6_bals91ZTlWfaWbb1g/s320/Weston+Wetherbee+undated+001.jpg" width="187" /></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">An undated portrait of Mr. Wetherbee. Image courtesy of his great granddaughter, Kathleen Ausman, who kindly furnished all the images in this biography.</span><br />
<br /></div>
Weston Wetherbee (1857-1932) lived his entire life, raised a family and
observed the skies from <st1:placename w:st="on">New York</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype>’s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Orleans</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The county is just south of </span><st1:placetype w:st="on">Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Ontario </st1:placename>and due west of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rochester</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">N.Y.</st1:state></st1:place><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His great granddaughter, Kathleen Ausman,
informed me that Wetherbee was a Seneca Indian and had been a public servant
for many years of his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sent me his
paragraph-long autobiography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In it, </span>Wetherbee wrote
that he was born January 24, 1857 and was named after his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 1880 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> census showed that he listed
“carpenter” as his occupation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
married Julia Goff in 1881 and the couple had a son, Harrison, in 1884. An 1892
newspaper clipping provided by Helen Mathes, Town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Barre</st1:place></st1:city> historian, reported that Wetherbee had developed
a thriving windmill manufacturing business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The article also provided a thumbnail personality sketch of him,
reporting that he had a genial and honest personality and was a skilled
mechanic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He continued to manufacture
windmills until 1900 because he described himself as a “windmill agent”
in the United States Census of that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
H</span>is autobiography stated that he served as a Justice of
the Peace and a town supervisor all before 1900. In 1904, he was
elected sheriff of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Orleans</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> and served for
three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Wetherbee was an
industrious, entrepreneurial, civic-minded man who led an active role in his
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
We can glean something more of Wetherbee’s personality from
the meteor observations he published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These writings, and others' references to him, began
in 1897 and continued until 1922.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
following 1899 quote, from his report to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,</i> it is clear that the man had a poetic flair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this excerpt, he describes the fate of
space debris that he saw when it became a brilliant fireball meteor in the
Earth’s atmosphere.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">“(ordinary meteors are) so sudden and startling, almost
paralyze the senses with feelings of wonder and fear, they are hardly seen
before they vanish, (in) marked contrast to this seemingly tired and weary
wanderer, from the unknown depths of infinity space, wasting his substance in
our atmosphere, only to plunge again into the deep mysterious abyss of the
future, or be reduced to star dust by coming in contact with other worlds.”</span><br />
<br /></div>
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Wetherbee first published short reports of fireballs he saw
in the early evenings of 1897 and 1898.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then he published star chart drawings of Leonid meteors he saw in 1898 and 1899. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Leonid observations emphasized how serious
a meteor student he was and how enthusiastic he was to contribute to <em>Popular Astronomy's </em>meteor study program. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
also kept <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomy</i> readers
apprised of Perseid observations after the turn of the 20<span style="font-size: large;"><sup>th</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a 1905 article to the magazine, we learn
that he made an effort to locate the place in the sky, called a radiant, where August's Perseid meteors
emanate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His wife, Julia,
assisted him in recording the meteors’ paths on a star chart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote, “Meteoric Astronomy is a
fascinating study and one to which I have given much attention of late years.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
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Wetherbee revealed that he used an eight-and-a-half inch reflecting telescope, made by Brashear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It appears that he explored lunar craters and mountain chains with it,
according to a February 1899 letter he wrote to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
November 16 and 17, 1899, he attached a wide-angle camera with a 5X7-inch
photographic plate to his telescope in hopes of capturing a meteor trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, no Leonids appeared for him to
photograph.<br />
<br /></div>
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In 1911, a 15-year old <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city></st1:place>
amateur, Frederick C. Leonard, proposed the formation of an international
amateur-led organization, Society for Practical Astronomy (SPA).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, he promised that the Society's <em>Monthly Register</em> would be used to publish members' observations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He asked amateurs and
professionals to join him in the SPA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a
1912 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i> article, Leonard
published the names of observers who had volunteered to lead various interest
sections in the SPA. The list revealed that Wetherbee had volunteered to lead the comets
section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
A series of
dramatic and bright comets appeared in the 1908-1910 time period and may explain why Wetherbee was lured away from meteors as a primary interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1908, a nearly-naked eye comet, Morehouse, made astronomical
headlines by repeated separations of its tail from the rest of the comet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Published photographs by Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923)
showed the disconnections very clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, in January 1910, astronomers were taken by surprise by the
unexpected appearance of a first magnitude comet, later called the “January
Comet.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 1</span>910 continued to be an extraordinary
cometary year because Halley’s Comet returned in May and the earth approached so
closely that the comet's tail spanned the night sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wetherbee can be excused for
straying from meteors when, like many of the public, he was swept away by the
siren call of bright comets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
imagine him using his eight-inch reflector to follow these comets and perhaps
wanting to discover his own. <br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wetherbee must have continued his astronomical studies after
1912.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> As</span> many observers do, he migrated
to a new subject for observation: stars whose brightnesses varied cyclically, called variable stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his monthly report for February 1921,
Howard Eaton of the American Association of Variable Star Observers wrote that
“W. Wetherbee,</span> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Albion</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">N.Y.</st1:state></st1:place>” was elected to membership in the
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wetherbee was 64 years old in
1921. However, he may not have been an active member very long because he is not
mentioned in the AAVSO’s 1924 or 1926 annual summaries of members’ activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDowBw_mXATlRq5S2cmEUGIqdthLDKjSiNcaLTrOrQqnbvl-JOp078WUXCYjg8XrLwdnxLliw2AKVojXipqyJe-g-yzFtlxIBOQ66kNiFNudnJPC-I6E2y9YNV4fHH3UUsQcpM4y4gl3Q/s1600/Weston+Wetherbee+w-5in+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDowBw_mXATlRq5S2cmEUGIqdthLDKjSiNcaLTrOrQqnbvl-JOp078WUXCYjg8XrLwdnxLliw2AKVojXipqyJe-g-yzFtlxIBOQ66kNiFNudnJPC-I6E2y9YNV4fHH3UUsQcpM4y4gl3Q/s320/Weston+Wetherbee+w-5in+001.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Wetherbee poses with a refractor telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The telescope is similar to a model made by Alvan Clark and Sons, a famous telescope maker. Date of the image is unknown.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXpfgKlRWp04L9IOac-LT7hCSWA2718FeptyhwQFoOmwWp6l2TXB074T2HByJtHpWsrsVjW0tvWTA3eaB_ir7m0NrxkAiM5lnhMGehKJV9M4g8E863pXmIy58iUTQ5-7SATCrd72P_VI/s1600/Wetherbee+and+observatory+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXpfgKlRWp04L9IOac-LT7hCSWA2718FeptyhwQFoOmwWp6l2TXB074T2HByJtHpWsrsVjW0tvWTA3eaB_ir7m0NrxkAiM5lnhMGehKJV9M4g8E863pXmIy58iUTQ5-7SATCrd72P_VI/s320/Wetherbee+and+observatory+001.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Wetherbee stands at the door of his observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Image date unknown.</span><br />
<br /></div>
Weston Wetherbee died October 18, 1932 according to an <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Orleans </st1:placename><st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> genealogical website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Wetherbee's</span> passion for astronomy may have been in his genes because his son Harrison’s obituary revealed that the son inherited his father’s interests. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> His 1942</span> obituary reported that h<st1:place w:st="on">e </st1:place>enjoyed exploring the skies with a telescope, just as his father had done.<br />
<br />
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Today, aside from his publications, there is little that remains to declare Wetherbee’s
interest in astronomy except a photograph that Ms. Ausman has showing him with a refracting telescope and another of his
observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Wetherbee's 1933 death notice in the <em>Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society</em> <em>of Canada </em>reported that he donated his 8-and-a-half-inch reflector telescope to the RASC in 1904. The fate of the refractor is unknown. </span><br />
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on"></st1:state></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi</div>
<br />
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First written May 1, 2006. Revisions and additional material added June 23, 2012.<br />
<br /></div>
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
The author wishes to thank Kathleen Ausman and Helen Mathes
for their contributions to this biography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The details they contributed provided a more complete portrait of this
amateur astronomer.<br />
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
REFERENCES<br />
<br />
Chant, C.A., "Death of Weston Weatherbee", <em>Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada,</em> vol.27, 1933, p. 46.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Eaton, H., “Monthly Report of the American Association
of Variable Star Observers, February 20-March 20, 1921”, <em>Popular Astronomy,</em> vol. 30, May 1922, p.
305.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leonard, F. C., “The Society for Practical Astronomy:
An Appeal to Amateur Astronomers”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, </i>vol.
20, October 1912, pp. 525-528, especially p. 526.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “October Meteors”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,</i> vol. 5, December 1897, p. 444.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “A Large Meteor”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy, </i>vol. 6, August 1898,
p. 365.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “The Leonid Meteor Shower, at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Barre Center</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">N.Y.</st1:state></st1:place>”,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,</i> vol. 6, December,
1898, pp.575-577 and p. 586.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “Bright Meteor”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomy, </i>vol. 7, March 1899, p. 168.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “Leonids at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Barre Center</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">N.Y.</st1:state></st1:place>”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,
</i>vol. 8, January 1900, pp. 17-19.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Wetherbee, W., “Radiant of Perseid Shower”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy,</i> vol. 13, March 1905, pp. 167-168.<br />
<br />
Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi</div>
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</div>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-56246834289981527752012-06-04T18:49:00.000-07:002012-06-04T18:49:48.872-07:00LEWIS SWIFT AND SON<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This is an update of a previously unpublished article I wrote eight years ago. It is no coincidence that I chose a father and son theme for a June posting because this month is when Father's Day is celebrated in the United States and Canada. The small blue Roman numerals in brackets are those of the reference Endnotes at the end of the article.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LEWIS SWIFT AND SON</b><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Copyright 2012 RICHARD
TAIBI<o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many astronomy
enthusiasts know of Lewis Swift (1820-1913) solely because of his comet discoveries
during the late nineteenth century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
he was equally successful in finding hundreds of nebulas, the term used then for
objects that we now know to be immense gas clouds in our galaxy, and also for entire
galaxies beyond our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Swift
discovered more of these deep-sky objects than anyone else, except for William
and John Herschel</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scattered through
Swift’s many publications are brief references to his son Edward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis revealed that Edward made his own discoveries
while assisting his father at the telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This article is the history of the Swift father-and-son celestial discovery
team during the years 1884-1895.</span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Family’s Background</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward Doane Swift
(1870-1935) was Lewis’ youngest son, born during Lewis’ second marriage to
Caroline Doane Topping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward was almost
two-years-old when the family moved to Rochester, New York in 1872.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis hoped that the hardware business he opened
in Marathon, New York, would improve in the larger city near the shore of Lake
Ontario.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next seven years, 1873-1879,
Lewis continued his searches for comets and found three of them using his four-and-a-half-inch
comet-seeker telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis’ successes
brought him world-wide fame and honors from learned institutions and
astronomical societies alike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1879 he
was awarded a gold medal from the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna; he
was named a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was awarded an
honorary Ph.D. by the University of Rochester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift gave
frequent public astronomy lectures and encouraged the people of Rochester to
view the heavenly bodies through his telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually, Swift’s local and international reputation attracted the
attention of Hulburt Harrington Warner (1842-1923), a local patent medicine millionaire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warner wanted to add to his social stature by
endowing a public observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He asked
Swift to join him in this venture by raising money for a sixteen-inch refracting telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Lewis succeeded in raising donations
totaling $12,500 from Rochesterians, Warner offered to house the telescope in a
grand, $100,000 limestone observatory that was to be attached to a large
residence for the Swifts</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">. The
telescope, observatory and house were all built in 1882. To appreciate the
construction costs, $12,500 in 1882 was worth about $275,000 in 2010 United
States Dollars, and $100,000 was approximately equal to $2,200,000 in 2010</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The observatory with
its sixteen-inch Clark refracting telescope was operational in early 1883, and
by July 9, 1883, Swift had decided to dedicate his research hours to hunting
nebulas</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis and Edward’s teamwork began with the
inauguration of the observatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
only because Lewis Swift was such an excellent self-chronicler that we know
about Edward’s accomplishments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tale of the two working together at night
during the next twelve years is an appealing account of mutual support and
achievement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rochester</i></st1:place></st1:city><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Nights</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1884 Lewis
Swift informed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sidereal Messenger </i>magazine
readers that he had discovered 197 new nebulas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He added, “seven … were found by my son, a lad of thirteen years of
age</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[v]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">." </span>In this way, a proud father informed the
world that Edward was his partner in celestial exploration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All 197 were additions to the nebulas already
found by William and John Herschel and other European astronomers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years later,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift reported that the two were still
collaborating. “In this work, occasional assistance has been received from my
son Edward, now a lad of fifteen years, who has discovered twenty-one” of 540
nebulae found at Warner Observatory as of February 1, 1887</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[vi]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, Swift had begun publishing lists of
nebular discoveries in 1885, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomische
Nachrichten</i>, a journal in which professional astronomers posted their
observations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[vii]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In each list, he identified every nebula his
son found by adding the notation, “Edward,” at the end of its description</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[viii]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>H.H. Warner awarded
$200 prizes to American comet discoverers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But he also bestowed gold medals on astronomers “for scientific
investigation and discovery.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warner
relied on Lewis Swift’s judgment in making these awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paternal pride undoubtedly had a role in the
award of a gold medal to Edward “for discovery of nebula” before he was
seventeen-years-old</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[ix]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward’s credits appeared
in most of his father’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Astronomische Nachrichten
</i>catalogues.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Edward discovered his
first nebula on August 8, 1884</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[x]</span></span></span></span></span></a>,<span style="font-size: large;">
and his last find was made October 17, 1891, when he was twenty-years-old</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xi]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all, Edward found forty-seven new nebulas,
almost four percent of the Swifts’ total of 1240 discoveries</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can get a sense
of the Swifts’ close collaboration in one account Lewis Swift provided to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sidereal Messenger</i> readers in 1888<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></o:p></u></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Edward, the director’s seventeen
year old son and his only assistant had discovered another (nebula)…near (the
star) Vega…But stranger than these, the young tyro … found one and his father,
a second (near) Epsilon Lyrae, that wonderful double-double (star) which has
been a target for all the great telescopes of the world, and which astronomers
have scanned without suspicion that two undiscovered nebulas were near.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The one) seen by the younger observer was
the fainter of the two, he overlooking the brighter one subsequently captured
by his father</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xiii]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">California Comets<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1893 Warner’s
financial empire collapsed and he could not support the observatory and its
astronomer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> However, </span>Lewis Swift found a new
benefactor in Thaddeus Lowe (1832-1913)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">,</b>
who had made fortunes from industrial production methods for artificial ice and
coke, a derivative of coal. During 1893-1894, Lowe was in the process of developing
a mountain resort on 3,700-foot Echo Mountain in California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was interested in building an observatory
as one of several attractions on the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Swift and Lowe struck an agreement and by 1894, Lewis, Caroline and
Edward were in residence on Echo Mountain with the sixteen-inch refractor
housed in a new observatory one-quarter-mile away</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xiv]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lowe Observatory
had a level roof area on which Swift’s comet-seeker could be used, just outside
and adjacent to the sixteen-inch's dome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two anecdotes suggest that Swift and his son searched the skies
together, often with one man at the eyepiece of the large Clark refractor and
the other using the comet-seeker nearby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first is an account of how Edward found a comet on November 20, 1894.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One evening during the first year
of our joint work on Echo Mountain, my son was at the great glass searching the
west for nebulas, while I was outside the Observatory engaged in
comet-seeking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finding a suspect in the
southwest, I repaired to the large telescope for better examination of the object
found, but, as it was only a nebula, went again to my quest while he, leaving
the telescope very nearly where I had used it, resumed his work and a few
minutes later whistled for me and together we watched an undoubted comet which
soon showed motion, not only, but also revealed a faint, short tail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This proved to be the long lost DeVico comet
of 1844, lost for fifty-one years…</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a few months later,
in 1895, Lewis and Edward were again engaged in sky sweeping.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On every available occasion I have
made a prolonged and desperate effort to detect this exceedingly faint comet
(Barnard’s comet of 1884) which has eluded observation ever since its discovery
in 1844…On the morning of June 30, I observed, not far from the ephemeritic
place of the comet, a faint, fairly large, nebulous object so cometary in
appearance that I called in my son Edward, who was engaged in comet-seeking
on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the roof<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the dark room just at hand, who instantly
exclaimed, as he placed his eye to the telescope, ‘It is a beauty’…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(However, after) watching it for a
half hour no motion was observed…Upon mature reflection it seemed that this
body might, after all, be a comet, and, if so, undoubtedly Barnard’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The morning of July 3<sup>rd</sup> found both
my son and myself on hand and eager to know if the suspect still held its
former place, but ere that region rose above the mountain a dense fog had
enveloped us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next morning, that of
July 4<sup>th</sup>, the sky was beautifully clear, however, and the
sixteen-inch telescope showed the triangle and the double star as we had
previously seen them but the object was gone</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xvi]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Partnership Ends</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just two months
after the above episode, on August 21, 1895, Lewis Swift was again at the
eyepiece of the sixteen-inch refractor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He hoped to find the last nebula he discovered while in Rochester, so
that he could determine its sky coordinates more accurately and estimate its
brightness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, he set the telescope on
the rough coordinates he had secured when in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>, hoping to recover the nebula.</span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">…I saw to my astonishment a
beautiful comet instead of the expected nebula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A single glance assured me of its cometary character which its motion
after a time confirmed.</span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then a
discordant note occurred in Swift’s account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whereas all of the previous mentions about Edward had revealed the young
man to be near his father’s side, this occasion was different.</span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(The comet’s) announcement was
delayed for several hours because of the absence of my son, Edward D., the
assistant astronomer, and the only telegrapher on the mountain, who had gone on
his annual vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No telegram was
possible until the electric car could convey me to <st1:place w:st="on">Altadena</st1:place>,
the nearest telegraph office, at 8 a.m.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn17" name="_ednref17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xvii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also find that
Edward made no nebula discoveries in Catalogue No. 11 or in a list of
forty-five discoveries that Lewis Swift published for the years 1898 and 1899</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn18" name="_ednref18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xviii]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, Lewis’s writings from those years
do not mention Edward being with him. A question suggests itself about whether
Edward assisted his father after 1895?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is to be expected that a young man of Edward’s age would begin to follow his
own interests, and respond to the imperatives of seeking independence from his
parents. Edward may have been busy living his own life after 1895.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless of this
speculation, father and son were forced by circumstances to face the changes
that life brings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sad one was Caroline’s
death in March 1897. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For another, Lewis’
vision began to fail at age 80, in 1900. Even if Lewis’ “good eye” had not
failed him, Lowe’s financial collapse sealed the observatory’s fate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift’s astronomical career was at an end</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xix]</span></span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis’ only major material asset was the
Clark telescope and he needed to sell it to finance his retirement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sale of the telescope meant that Edward
needed to find other means to continue astronomical pursuits or find another
career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1901, the
astronomical world was notified that Lewis had “…disposed of his astronomical
equipment to the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pasadena</st1:place></st1:city>
and Mt. Lowe Railway</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn20" name="_ednref20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xx]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">." </span>He retired to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Marathon</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state></st1:place>
to live with his daughter Mary and her husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Edward wrote a complimentary biography of Lewis for a volume of <st1:place w:st="on">Marathon</st1:place>’s history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It contained a complete list of Lewis’ astronomical honors<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It served as curriculum vitae for his father and served to update
Marathoners about his father’s accomplishments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Edward wrote that his father, “… has left behind him a starry,
imperishable monument which will shine for untold ages to come</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn21" name="_ednref21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxi]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">." </span>After seeing Halley’s Comet for the second time
in his life <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in 1910, Lewis Swift died in
1913.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward’s participation
in astronomy appears to have ended in 1895. Despite the fact that Lewis
entrusted his observation log to Edward</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn22" name="_ednref22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">,
there is no evidence that it prompted Edward to resume astronomical work even
as a hobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the California years,
he moved to Buffalo, New York, which was then a thriving commercial center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Local historical records indicate that he
began a career with the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edward began as a cashier and ultimately became
assistant manager of the company’s Buffalo office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He married in 1903</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn23" name="_ednref23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxiii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
and died three months after his wife’s death in 1935</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_edn24" name="_ednref24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxiv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi</span><br />
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
ENDNOTES</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
</span><br />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Peter T.
Wlasuk, “‘So much for fame!’: The story of Lewis Swift”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quarterly journal of the Royal Astronomical Society,</i> xxxvii (1996),
683-707, p. 683.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Ralph
Bates and Blake McKelvey, “Lewis Swift, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rochester</st1:city></st1:place> astronomer”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rochester History</i>, ix (1947), 1-20, pp. 11-14.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Source:
Economic History Association’s EH.net calculator feature: How Much is that?
/Measuring worth: </span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cited equivalence is from the ‘Commodity’
calculator for ‘real price.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>EH.net
defines ‘real price’ as a measure using the relative cost of a (fixed over
time) bundle of goods and services such as food, shelter, clothing, etc., that
an average household would buy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
bundle does not change over time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
uses the Consumer Price Index.”<span style="color: black;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The URL was accessed June 4, 2012.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">History and work of the Warner
Observatory</i> (Rochester, New York, 1887), 5.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[v]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “The nebulae”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sidereal Messenger,</i>
iv (1884), 1-4, p. 3. Note that 'nebulae' has the same meaning as 'nebulas.'</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[vi]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Swift, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">op.cit.</i> (ref.iv), Addenda and p. 5.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[vii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Catalogue No. 1 of nebulae discovered at Warner observatory”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomische Nachrichten</i>, cxii (1885),
2683.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[viii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ibid.,</i>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swift, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">op.cit</i>.
(ref. iv), 5.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[ix]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Swift<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, op.cit.</i> (ref. iv), Addenda.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[x]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Swift, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">op.cit. </i>(ref. iv).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xi]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Catalogue No. 10 of nebulae discovered at Warner Observatory”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomische Nachrichten,</i> cxxix (1892),
3094.</span><br />
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Ups and downs, and here and there of an astronomer”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>, ix (1901), 476-9, pp.
478-9.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xiii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “New nebulae at the Warner Observatory”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sidereal Messenger</i>, vii (1888), 38-40, pp. 39-40.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xiv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
Wlasuk, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">op.cit.</i> (ref. i), pp.
699-700.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Accident comets”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>, iv (1896-7), 138-141, p. 140.</span><br />
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xvi]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Probable observation of Barnard’s comet of 1844”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>, iii (1895-6), 17-19, pp.17-18.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xvii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “How I found the comet”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>, iii (1895-6), 96.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xviii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
Lewis Swift, “Catalogue no. 11 of nebulae”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Astronomische
Nachrichten, </i>cxlvii (1898), 3517; and Lewis Swift, “List No. 12 of nebulae
discovered at Lowe Observatory, Echo Mountain, California, for 1900.0”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>, viii (1899), 568-9.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xix]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Swift,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">op.cit.</i>, (ref. xi), 479.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xx]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> William
W. Payne, editor, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>,
ix (1901), 224.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxi]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Edward
D. Swift, “Lewis Swift, Ph.D., F.R.A.S.”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Grip’s”
historical souvenir of <st1:place w:st="on">Marathon</st1:place> </i>(Syracuse,
New York, 1901), 38-40.</span><br />
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref22" name="_edn22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Lewis
Swift, “Remarkable nebulae”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular
Astronomy</i>, x (1902), 160.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref23" name="_edn23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxiii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> 1910
Census of the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>,
<st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Erie</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
Series T624, Roll 948, Book I, p. 94.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2895147636703282101#_ednref24" name="_edn24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">[xxiv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> Irene
Marks Rupp to Richard Taibi, 1 September 2000 and 19 March 2001, a letter in the
author’s archives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms. Rupp is a
genealogical researcher living in a suburb of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Buffalo</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Copyright 2012 Richard Taibi</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">June 4, 2012<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
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</span>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-12803955581955342522012-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:002012-05-30T09:48:28.807-07:00TEENAGE ASTRONOMER<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">TEENAGE
ASTRONOMER: ALAN P.C. CRAIG (1898-1959)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">The
history of amateur astronomy is full of sky watchers who became entranced with
astronomy long before they reached majority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My guess is that if you are an amateur astronomer, you were beguiled by the sky as child
or teenager too.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Alan
Craig was born in Oregon and his family moved to a California farm before he
was an adolescent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1911, when he entered
his teens, was a fortunate year to have curiosity about the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another teenager, Fred Leonard, a Chicago 15-year-old
promoted what was his local astronomy club in a national astronomy enthusiasts’
magazine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy (PA).</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leonard’s ambition was to make his Society
for Practical Astronomy (SPA) a national and even international
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young Alan must have been
a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i> reader and read Leonard’s
invitation to join the SPA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Craig wasted
little time and was an active member of the SPA by April 1912.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Alan’s
reports to two sections of the SPA show the breadth of his astronomical
interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He contributed meteor reports
to Dr. Charles P. Olivier, the Meteor Section director beginning in 1912.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Olivier wanted drawings of meteors’ paths
among the stars to disprove a mistaken popular idea about where meteors
originate from in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1912 Craig
also sent estimates of stars’ brightnesses (technically called ‘magnitudes’) to
William Tyler Olcott who directed the Variable Star Section (VSS).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Variable stars’ are those whose magnitudes are
known to vary over time. Alan used a telescope with a light-gathering lens measuring
two-and-a-half inches (6.4 centimeters) in diameter to monitor them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leonard and Olcott intended that the VSS
would record amateur observers’ magnitude estimates of these inconstant stars
and would then provide the data to professional astronomers who studied
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">From
1912 through 1913, Alan plotted 253 meteor paths on maps of the stars for Dr.
Olivier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His interest in meteors waned
in 1913 in favor of watching the variable stars’ light shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps he became more dedicated to variable
stars because one of his early variable star reports to Olcott received such an
appreciative response in a monthly column Olcott wrote in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Alan submitted 100
estimates in September 1912, Olcott wrote, “Mr. Craig deserves a great deal of
credit for the excellent work he has done in observing variables in a short
time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may have been all the young
man needed to motivate many more contributions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From 1912 through 1914, he reported 1700 magnitude estimates to Olcott.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">We
don't know why Alan Craig ceased reporting to Olivier and
Olcott, but his brief career is like those of many adolescent sky watchers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They begin with a great deal of energy in
their observations, only to stop as suddenly as they began them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can guess that in 1915, the 17-year old
was given more responsibilities for work around the family farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the reason(s), Craig’s name stopped
appearing regularly in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Popular Astronomy</i>
after 1914.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His last known report was to
Dr. Olivier in 1923 and 1924 when he furnished magnitude estimates of meteors
he had seen by chance while watching other objects through his telescope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite his disappearance from print a
century ago, Alan Craig, with a few other sky watchers, had a long-lasting
impact: they launched two organizations, Olivier’s American Meteor Society (AMS)
and Olcott’s American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both survive today and amateur astronomers in
them contribute to scientific knowledge in the same ways Alan Craig did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Richard
Taibi</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">April
9 and May 30, 2012</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Copyright
2012</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">References</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Olcott,
William Tyler, Annual Report of the AAVSO for the year ending October 10, 1912;
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vol.</i> 20, pp. 609 and 615.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Olcott;
Annual Reports of the AAVSO for 1913 and 1914, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA, vols</i>. 21-23.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Olivier,
Charles P.; 126 Parabolic Orbits by the AMS during 1911-1913, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publications of the Leander McCormick
Observatory, volume 2;</i> Charlottesville, VA: U of VA; 1914, pp. 457-460.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Olivier,
C.P; Report of the AMS for 1923 and 1924, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PA,
volume</i> 33, 1925, pp. 240-241.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2895147636703282101.post-43581365566092606792012-05-30T02:45:00.000-07:002012-10-06T07:08:42.197-07:00WELCOME TO SKYWATCHERS<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">SKYWATCHERS is an opportunity for me to present biographies of United States astronomers, some professional, many more amateurs who deserve credit for their contributions to astronomical science. Almost all of them were meteor enthusiasts, but all were actively watching or searching for some sky phenomena. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-size: large;">New biographies will be published from time to time. Some of this posted material will appear in a history of the American Meteor Society that I am writing. Some of the AMS' history, and the biography of its founder, Charles P. Olivier, all written by me, can be found on the Society's webpage, </span><a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org./"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.amsmeteors.org.</span></a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">I invite your reactions to what's posted. I hope you find it interesting.</span>Richard Taibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02748002192174748009noreply@blogger.com1