Abstract
ON December 17, 1837, William Harkness, the American astronomer, was born at Ecclefechan, Scotland, his father being a Presbyterian minister. In 1839, the family removed to New York, and after attending private schools Harkness entered the University of Rochester and in 1858 took his degree. A short spell of journalism was followed by the study of medicine, and during the Civil War, at intervals, he served as a volunteer surgeon. In 1862, however, he was appointed an assistant to James Melville Gilliss (1865) at the United States Naval Observatory, and it was at Washington that he passed practically the remainder of his life. He observed the solar eclipses of 1869 and 1870, and in 1871 was appointed one of the original members of the Transit of Venus Commission, being concerned with the preparations for the observation of the transits of 1874 and 1882, and also with the discussion of the results. The transit of 1874 he observed at Hobart, Tasmania. In September, 1894, when new buildings had been erected for the Observatory, regulations were promulgated by the Secretary of the Navy providing for the first time for an "Astronomical Director", who was to "have charge of and to be responsible for the direction, scope, character and preparation for publication of all work purely astronomical, which is performed at the Naval Observatory". To this post Harkness was appointed, the office providing, it was afterwards said, "a maximum of responsibility and a minimum of power". To his duties were added three years later the directorship of the "American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac". The work, however, proved too much ; he broke down and in 1899 retired, being granted the rank of Rear Admiral. He died at Jersey City, N.J., on February 28, 1903. Harkness was one of the founders of the Philosophical Society of Washington and in 1893 served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Centenary of William Harkness, 1837–1903. Nature 140, 1004 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401004b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401004b0