876 OLIVER CLINTON WENDELL. 



terms of the highest admiration. During this period, also, he was 

 offered a professorship of astronomy at Bates College, a position he 

 was obliged to decline on account of ill health. This was, perhaps, 

 unfortunate, for such a position would have given him, as a teacher, 

 an excellent opportunity for the full expression of his personality. 



He returned to the Harvard Observatory in 1879, and was made 

 Assistant Professor of Astronomy in 1898, a position he held during 

 the remainder of his Hfe. His work at the Observatory was chiefly 

 with the 15-inch equatorial, which in early days was often referred to 

 as "The Great Telescope." During the latter part of his life he was 

 almost the sole observer with this telescope, and his relation with it 

 was of the nature of an intimate friendship. Even on cloudy nights, 

 when no work could be done, he appeared to enjoy being near the 

 instrument, which he really loved. 



Mr. Wendell observed the eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter from 

 1891 to 1912. This work required his presence at all hours of the 

 night, a hardship which did not lessen his enthusiasm. He often 

 came to the Observatory on cold winter nights, even when the chance 

 of securing observations was small. He took part in the observation 

 and reduction of the work of the 4-inch meridian photometer, but his 

 principal work was with the photometer having achromatic prisms, 

 attached to the 15-inch telescope. With this instrument he observed 

 variable stars and asteroids. The results are probably" the most 

 accurate which had been obtained up to that time. He discovered 

 several new variable stars and two variable asteroids. Although he 

 was able to devote less time to the subject, he had a deep interest in 

 comets, and, in his earlier years at the Observatory, took part in their 

 observation and the computation of their orbits. The results of his 

 astronomical work will be found in Volumes 13, 23, 24, 33, 37, 52, and 

 69 of the Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College, 



Mr. Wendell took his vocation with great seriousness. To him, 

 nothing compared in interest with astronomy. It absorbed him, not, 

 however, to the exclusion of a poetic element, which expressed itself 

 at different times in verse. Regarding this phase of his character, 

 however, he was very reticent. Also, he had a sincere faith in the 

 truth of the Christian religion, and an intense belief in the immortality 

 of the soul. He was married, in 1870, to Sarah Butler, of Hanover, 

 Mass., who was a most devoted and loyal helper. Her death, in 1910, 

 was a shock from which he never fully recovered. It left him lonely 

 and inconsolable till his own death two years later. Two sons survive 

 them, 



S. I. Bailey. 



