A NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
STEPHEN ALEXANDER 
Born, September 1, 1806; died, June 25, 1883 
Stephen Alexander was born in Schenectady, New York, 
and resided there until after his graduation from college. His 
father, Alexander Alexander, was a successful business man in 
Schenectady. He died when in middle life, but left his widow 
and two young children with sufficient means to live in comfort. © 
Stephen was graduated from Union College in 1824, with high 
honors, and immediately after began teaching. He first taught 
in the Academy at Chittenango, New York, and later was 
probably connected for some time with the Academy in Albany. 
In 1832 he went to Princeton with Joseph Henry, who became 
Professor of Natural Philosophy there in that year. Henry was 
Stephen Alexander’s first cousin and, some years later, he 
married Harriet Alexander, Stephen’s younger sister, thus mak- 
ing a double relationship, which doubtless influenced Alex- 
ander’s life and fortunes to a considerable extent. Alexander’s 
first idea in going to Princeton to study was to prepare himself 
for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, but in 1833 he was 
appointed to a tutorship in the college, and thus began his forty- 
three years’ service as a member of the faculty. In 1834, he was 
made Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, and in 1840 Professor 
of Astronomy, which position he held until 1876, when he retired 
as professor emeritus. 
In 1831 Alexander went to Maryland to observe the annular 
eclipse of February 12, and ever after that time he was intensely 
interested in such phenomena, never missing an opportunity to 
make similar observations. Between 1831 and 1875, he observed 
many annular eclipses, and several total eclipses. He journeyed 
from Georgia to Labrador to view eclipses which occurred at 
different dates, making many observations which he published 
later in a paper entitled “ Physical Phenomena Attendant upon 
Solar Eclipses.” He was not, however, a prolific writer. In 
fact, so much of his time was taken up with the duties of his 
professorship, that not a great deal was left for writing and 
