in 1853, At Age 18, Simon Newcomb Arrived In The United States Penniless, With No Proven Job Skills, And Without Even A High School Diploma. Fifty-six Years Later, In 1909, President William H. Taft Attended His Funeral Service, And America S Unofficial Astronomer Royal Was Laid To Rest With Full Military Honors, In Arlington National Cemetery.
After Graduating From Harvard University And Receiving A Commission As A Professor Of Mathematics, U.s. Navy (signed By President Abraham Lincoln) Newcomb: Traveled The World To Observe Solar Eclipses And A Transit Of Venus; Supervised The Construction Of The World S Largest Aperture Refracting Telescope; Measured The Velocity Of Light Better Than Anyone Had Before; Computed The Astronomical Unit (distance From Earth To The Sun) To Within 0.005 Percent Of Today S Value; Reconciled The Observed Variation Of Latitude With Theory: Estimated The Elasticity Of Earth From The Observed Variation Of Latitude; Computed The Motions Of The Moon; And Dared To Suggest That The Anomalous Motion Of Mercury May Be Caused By Non- Gravitational Forces.
As A Close Friend Of James A. Garfield, Newcomb Convinced The Doctors Attending The Mortally Wounded President To Use Alexander Graham Bell S Induction Balance To Search For The Assassin S Bullet Lodged In His Abdomen. His Desperate Attempt To Save The Life Of The Popular Young President Failed, But The American People Appreciated Newcomb S Effort, And Shared His Frustration And Grief.
charles R. Schwarz - International Association Of Geodesy Newsletter simon Newcomb Was One Of The Most Important American Scientists Of The Nineteenth Century . . . In The Hands Of These Authors Simon Newcomb Comes Alive . . . This Enjoyable Book Makes The Life Of This Extraordinary Astronomer Available To A Popular Audience.

Bill Carter; Merri Sue Carter

William Eugene Carter

Booklocker.com, Incorporated

Mantanzas Publishing

United States, United States of America

St. Augustine, Fla, 2006

January 20, 2006

PS, 2006