INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



IN spite of the fertility of America in mechanical invention 

 ond applied science, there are few branches of pure science in 

 which she can be regarded as among the leading nations. Her 

 nearest approach to preeminence has probably been in astron- 

 omy; and in this field Simon Newcomb was, at his death, the 

 most distinguished figure. 



Newcomb was born in the village of, Wallace, Nova Scotia, 

 March 12, 1835. His father, who was a teacher, gave him his ele- 

 mentary education; and at the age of eighteen we find him 

 teaching a country school in Maryland. Two years later, a 

 position as computer on the "Nautical Almanac" brought him 

 to Cambridge, Mass.* where he studied in Harvard University 

 till 1861, when he was appointed professor of mathematics in 

 the United States Navy. He remained in the government ser- 

 vice till he was retired as a rear admiral in 1897, having 

 served besides as professor of mathematics and astronomy in 

 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, from 1884. 



Newcomb's chief labors were in the department of mathe- 

 matical astronomy, and were directed toward the explanation 

 of the observed movements of the heavenly bodies. The diffi- 

 culty and complexity of the calculations involved are beyond 

 the conception of the layman; and the achievements which 

 brought Newcomb honors from the learned of almost all civi- 

 lised countries have to be taken on trust by the general. He 

 had, nevertheless, an admirable power of clear exposition 

 of those parts of his subject which were capable of populariza- 

 tion; and the accompanying paper is a good example of the 

 simple treatment of a large subject. 



Newcomb's interests extended beyond his special field, and he 

 wrote with vigor and originality on finance and economics, and 

 played a leading part in the general intellectual life of his time. 

 When he died in the midst of his labors on July u, 1900, he 

 left a place at the head of American science that will not easily 

 be filled. 



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