SKETCH OF JAMES CRAIG WATSON, 6g7, 



ical power which would raise eight tons to the height of one hundred 

 feet. Such is the energy with which the molecules of bodies grasp 

 each other ; such is the strength of the solder which binds the uni- 

 verse together. Chambers^ Journal. 



-^^- 



SKETCH OF JAMES CEAIG WATSOK 



By alexa:^der winchell, ll. d. 



JAMES CRAIG WATSOX, Professor of Astronomy in the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, and Director of the Washburne Observa- 

 tory at Madison, Wisconsin, died on the morning of November 23, 

 1880, after an illness of one week, at the age of forty-two years and 

 ten months. Professor Watson was one of the most gifted and dis- 

 tinoruished of modern astronomers, and his life-work is identified with 

 the name of the University of Michigan. 



He was born of American parentage, during a sojourn of his par- 

 ents in Middlesex (now Elgin) County, Ontario, January 28, 1838. 

 The mathematical genius revealed by the boy at the early age of nine 

 determined the father to secure him a liberal education, and the fam- 

 ily accordingly removed to Ann Arbor in 1850. Here James disj^layed 

 equal aptitude for mathematical and linguistic studies, and, being pre- 

 pared for college, almost without the evidences of effort, he entered the 

 University of Michigan in the autumn of 1853. He attained equal 

 scholarly distinction as a student of ancient and modern languages and 

 of mathematics. It is said that, before the close of his junior year, he 

 had performed the phenomenal feat of reading from beginning to end 

 the " Mecanique Celeste " of Laplace. During his senior year, he was 

 the solitary pupil of Dr. Briinnow, and graduated in 1857. His mechani- 

 cal tact was such that, in the absence of a mathematical bent, he would 

 have become an eminent mechanician and inventor. While in college, 

 some of his spare hours were spent in grinding lenses and the construc- 

 tion of a telescope. Other portions of his time he was compelled to 

 devote to the earning of means to defray collegiate expenses. 



During the two years succeeding his graduation, he was employed 

 as assistant in the Observatory, and in the prosecution of studies for 

 his second degree. In this work he .displayed such remarkable apti- 

 tude as an observer, and such marvelous rapidity in his computations, 

 that, on the retirement of Dr. Brunnow, in June, 1859, young Watson 

 succeeded him in the chair of Astronomy. He was already known as 

 a frequent contributor to the " American Journal of Science," Briin- 

 now's "Astronomical Notices," Gould's "Astronomical Journal," and 

 the " Astronomische Nachrichten," of Altona. Not less than twelve 



