ROWLAND GIBSON HAZARD. 313 



the Florida surveys. He was placed in charge of the mur?l circle in 

 the United States Naval Observatory, Washington, in 1843, and con- 

 tinued in that capacity until 1853, when he was assigned to the charge 

 of the Department of Mathematics at the United States Naval Acad- 

 emy in Annapolis, and later had charge of the department of astron- 

 omy and navigation. In 18 Go he was appointed to the charge of the 

 " American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac," then issued in Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., but in 1867 its place of publication was transferred to 

 Washington, D. C, whither Professor Coffin then removed, and re- 

 mained its chief officer untU 1877, when he was placed on the retired 

 list, having been senior Professor of Mathematics since 1848. The 

 degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Bowdoin in 1884, and 

 he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 the American Philosophical Society, and in 1863 became one of the 

 corporate members of the National Academy of Sciences, named by 

 act of Congress, of which organization he was for several terms the 

 treasurer. Besides many shorter articles and certain contributions to 

 cyclopaedias, Professor Coffin published " Observations with the Mural 

 Circle at the United States Naval Observatory, with Explanations, 

 Formulas, Tables, and Discussions, 1845-1849," in the volumes of 

 the Observatory for those years ; "The Compass " (1863) ; "Naviga- 

 tion and Nautical Astronomy " (New York, 1868) ; the last two were 

 prepared for use in the United States Naval Academy ; " The Amer- 

 ican Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac," edited (1868 till 1879) ; also 

 *' Personal Errors in Observations of the Declination of Stars," in 

 Dr. Benjamin A. Gould's " Astronomical Journal" (1850), and "Ob- 

 servations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August, 1869," made at 

 Burlington, Mount Pleasant, and elsewhere in Iowa, under his direc- 

 tion (Washington, 1884). 



ROWLAND GIBSON HAZARD* 



Rowland Gibson Hazap.d belonged to an old Rhode Island family, 

 whose representatives were in Newport as early as 1640. He was 

 the son of Rowland and Mary Peace Hazard, and was born in South 

 Kingstown, October 9, 1801. His parents were members of the 

 Society of Friends. He received his education principally at the 

 Friends' School in Westtown, Pa. He was an apt scholar, especially 

 in mathematics. His father, who had long been engaged in business 



* Not ready in time for the preceding Annual Report. 



