Astronomer and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb began his career as a rural schoolteacher in Maryland.
Many fine educators have also earned a stellar reputation in professions other than education. One of these is Simon Newcomb, a Maryland school teacher who became a Rear Admiral in the US Navy and an internationally-recognized expert in astronomy.
Simon Newcomb was born on March 12, 1835, in Wallace, Nova Scotia. His father, an American, was an itinerant schoolteacher. Even as a young child, Simon demonstrated an unusual ability for mathematics. When he was just 16, Simon was apprenticed to an herbalist in Salisbury, New Brunswick, but the intelligent teen quickly came to the conclusion that the man was a charlatan. Simon ran away and made his way back to his family, which by then had settled in rural Maryland. The young man inaugurated his career as a teacher there, and at the same time studied mathematics and astronomy in nearby Washington, DC.
In January, 1857, Simon moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he accepted a position with the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. The organization published a handbook for astronomers. While working there, Simon enrolled at he Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University. He earned his degree in 1858. Three years later, Simon became a commissioned officer in the US Navy. He became a professor of mathematics for the Navy, and was assigned to the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. In this position, Simon’s work was to find and correct errors made in calculating the positions and motions of various celestial bodies. He was also responsible for negotiating a contract to build a new 26-inch telescope at the Naval Observatory. The telescope was completed in 1873.
In 1877, Simon was promoted to the rank of captain. He was also promoted to the position of Senior Mathematics Professor in the Navy and Superintendent of the American Nautical Almanac Office. In this position, the honored educator revised motion theory and position tables for all major celestial bodies in the solar system. This published work, which took 20 years to complete and became the standard reference both at home an abroad, is still in use today. During this period Simon led several field expeditions, including one to the Saskatchewan region in 1860 to observe an eclipse of the sun. He also traveled to Gibralter in 1870 to observe the solar eclipse there, and to the Cape of Good Hope in 1882, where he observed and charted the Venus transit that took place that year.
By 1884, Simon had been named a contributing editor of the American Journal of Mathematics. In addition, he was selected to be a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1896, he traveled to Paris as the leader of an international astronomy conference. In 1899, Simon founded the American Astronomical Society. He served as the organization’s president for six years.
For his work in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, Simon Newcomb earned many accolades and honorary degrees, both national and international. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He also published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
This exceptional educator and scientist passed away in Washington, DC, on July 11, 1909. He is interred in Arlington Cemetery. To learn more about Simon Newcomb, you can read his biography at this link for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
