760 SCIENCE. 
1813, and inherited a fondness for mathe- 
matics from his father who was a surveyor 
by profession. He was fitted for college by 
the Rev. James Walker, and entered Har- 
vard in the Sophomore year in the class of 
1833, a class that included several members 
who were afterwards called to fill chairs in 
their alma mater, and one—Jeftries Wyman 
—who became a president of our Associa- 
tion. Lovering stood fourth in his class 
and he delivered the salutatory oration at 
the commencement exercises. 
For a year after leaving Harvard he 
taught in Charlestown, but an inclination 
towards theology led him to enter the Har- 
vard Divinity School, also at the same time 
devoting some attention to mathematical 
studies. It was probably that fact that led 
to his appointment as tutor in mathematics 
and physics in 1836 to fill the place made 
vacant by the illness of Professor John 
Farrar, and thus his long connection with 
Harvard began which only terminated in 
his death, fifty-six years later. 
In 1888 Professor Farrar retired from ac- 
tive duty and Lovering was made his suc- 
cessor in the Hollis chair of mathematics 
and natural philosophy, which he then held 
for exactly fifty years, when he in his turn 
retired and was made emeritus. He was 
the first member of the Harvard faculty to 
fill a professorship for half a century, and 
his length of academic service was only ex- 
ceeded by that of Henry Flynt, who was 
a tutor in Harvard, early in its history. 
Lovering was also director of the Jefferson 
Physical Laboratory, holding that office dur- 
ing 1884-88, and he was a regent of Harvard 
during 1853-54 and again during 1857-70. 
In the development of the Harvard 
astronomical observatory he took a promi- 
nent part. He was associated with Pro- 
fessor William C. Bond in 1840, when with 
but few instruments and indifferent facili- 
ties, the beginning of the work in astronomy 
was made in the Davis House in Cambridge. 
(N.S. Vou. X. No. 256. 
It is from this small beginning that the 
present splendid observatory has grown. 
When Alexander von Humboldt induced 
the Royal Society of London to undertake 
the procuring of simultaneous observations 
on terrestrial magnetism in Great Britain 
and the colonies, the cooperation of the 
United States was sought, and one of the 
three stations in America was located in 
Cambridge where the taking of the ob- 
servations was under the direction of Bond 
and Lovering. Several undergraduates of 
Harvard aided in the work, and among 
them was Benjamin A. Gould, who served 
the American Association as president in 
1868. 
The exacting duties of his work at Har- 
vard and his own active interest in our As- 
sociation left him but little time for scien- 
tific investigations. Still from 1867 till 
1876 he had charge of the computations for 
determining transatlantic longitudes from 
telegraphic observations on cable lines, and 
under the direction of the U. 8S. Coast 
Survey, of which his colleague Benjamin 
Peirce was then superintendent, and the 
results of his work were given in volumes ~ 
Il. and IX. of the memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences. It was 
also to this source that he contributed in 
1873 his great memoir on the aurora 
borealis. His shorter papers were more 
than one hundred in number and many of 
them appeared in our Proceedings. They 
testify to his unceasing activity as well as 
to his unusual ability. Mention should be 
made also of the fact that he was associated 
with Benjamin Peirce in the publication of 
the Cambridge Miscellany of Mathematics » 
and Physics, to which he contributed 
articles on The Internal Equilibrium of 
Bodies ; The Application of Mathematical 
Analysis to Physical Research ; The Di- 
visability of Matter, and similar subjects 
which attracted wide attention throughout 
this country and the scientific world. 
