RECORDS 129 



Baltimore, Md., April i6, 1901. His early academic studies 

 were pursued at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, from which 

 he was graduated with the degree of Civil Engineer in 1870. 

 After a brief career as a teacher at Wooster College and at 

 Rensselaer Institute he became connected with the Johns Hop- 

 kins University. Appointed professor of physics in that institu- 

 tion in 1876, he devoted the remainder of his life to the work of 

 instruction and investigation in mathematical physics. In both 

 lines of work he set and maintained a high standard. His 

 laboratory speedily came to be recognized as a source of funda- 

 mental knowledge ; and a number of the researches carried out 

 therein by him and his pupils are amongst the most noteworthy 

 of the nineteenth century. Of these, especially important are 

 his determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat, and his 

 analysis of the solar spectrum by aid of his incomparable con- 

 cave diffraction gratings. The skill and success with which he 

 executed these investigations give him rank along with the 

 ablest experimenters and theorists of his time. 



Professor Rowland was devoted to science with rare fidelity 

 and tenacity of purpose. No baffling obstacles discouraged him 

 in the pursuit of truth. He was animated by a high ideal. 

 '' But for myself," he said in one of his addresses, *' I value in a 

 scientific mind most of all that love of truth, that care in its 

 pursuit, and that humility of mind which makes the possibility 

 of error always present, more than any other quality. This is 

 the mind which has built up modern science to its present per- 

 fection. ... It is the only mind which appreciates the imper- 

 fections of the human reason and is thus careful to guard against 

 them. It is the only mind that values truth as it should be 

 valued and ignores all personal feeling in its pursuit." These 

 words explain at once his personal character and his course in 

 life. With unflagging industry he consecrated his talents 

 and his strength to the attainment of his ideal of the scientific 

 mind. 



R. S. Woodward, 



Chairman. 



