ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.] BIOGRAPHY. 13 



An extensive, and what we might call a complete, series of mathematical textbooks for 

 high school and college was written by Newcomb and issued by Henry Holt & Co. in the years 

 1SS1-1887. The series included algebras for schools and for colleges, the elements of geometry, 

 the elements of plane and spherical trigonometry, logarithmic and trigonometric tables, the 

 elements of analytics, and the elements of differential and integral calculus. The several editions 

 and reprints through which the books passed are perhaps the best evidence of their success and 

 value. 



Prof. Newcomb was appointed professor of mathematics and astronomy in Johns Hopkins 

 University in 1884. He lectured and conducted seminars on astronomy on two days per week 

 until the requirements of the Government service made his resignation necessary, at the end of 

 the year 1893. He was reappointed to the position in 1898 and retained it until 1900, but his 

 duties during this later period were apparently advisory to the students of mathematics and 

 astronomy, as he seems not to have conducted formal courses in these subjects. He was editor 

 of The American Journal of Mathematics, published under the auspices of Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, during the years 1885-1893 and 1899-1900, and a coeditor in the years 1878-79, 

 1894-1898 and from 1901 until his death. He was one of the first, and perhaps the first, to 

 receive appointment as lecturer in Johns Hopkins University, in its opening year, 1876. In 

 many of the early years of the university he served as an examiner in mathematics and eco- 

 nomics. 



That Newcomb's services to Johns Hopkins University were highly valued by the authorities 

 of the institution is clear from the honors conferred upon him. In 1897 he was requested by 

 the faculty and friends of the university to sit for a portrait, to be presented to the university. 

 In 1900 the president of the university wrote, "with grateful recognition of the valued counsel 

 you have given to this university since its organization, the academic coimcil has unanimously 

 recommended to the trustees that you be appointed emeritus professor of mathematics, and 

 the board of trustees with like unanimity approve this recommendation." On February 22, 

 1901, the Sylvester prize of Johns Hopkins University, a handsome bronze medallion of the late 

 Prof. Sylvester, was awarded in duplicate, the first copy to Lord Kelvin, and the second copy 

 to Prof. Newcomb, "in recognition of his distinction and his service." In February, 1902, at 

 the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Johns Hopkins University, 

 the degree of doctor of laws was conferred upon Newcomb "in recognition of his preeminent 

 attainments and important discoveries in science." 



Prof. Newcomb was elected president of the American Mathematical Society for two suc- 

 cessive terms, serving during the years 1S97 and 189S. At the close of the first term he delivered 

 a presidential address on "The Philosophy of Hyperspace." 



Prof. Newcomb's contributions to the domain of pure mathematics were limited, necessa- 

 rily, and the subjects which received his attention were chiefly those which are related more or 

 less intimately to celestial mechanics and probabilities. There could be no question, however, of 

 a great underlying mathematical ability. Prof. Cayley, the eminent mathematician, on pre- 

 senting the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society to Prof. Newcomb in 1874, spoke of 

 a memoir by Newcomb on the Theorie des perturbations de la Lune qui sont dues a Taction 

 des plane tes, 7 thus: "The memoir is, from the boldness of the conception and beauty of the 

 result, a very remarkable one, and constitutes an important addition to theoretical dynamics." 



In 1S95 Newcomb was awarded the Astronomical Journal prize of $400 "For the most 

 thorough discussion of the theory of the rotation of the earth, with reference to the recently 

 discovered variation of latitude." 



In 1902 Newcomb was the delegate from the National Academy to the celebration of the 

 centenary of the birth of Abel, in the University of Christiania. The degree of doctor of mathe- 

 matics was conferred upon him on that occasion. He was one of the vice presidents of the 

 Fourth International Congress of Mathematicians held in Rome in 1908, and one of the nine 

 principal speakers. His interest in the trend of modern mathematical thought and in the 

 improvements of ways and means for teaching mathematics was always keen. 



' Liou-rille's Journal, 16, 321-368, 1S71. 



