Robert Simpson Woodward

His home in Washington DC, now a National Historic Landmark

Robert Simpson Woodward (born July 21, 1849 in Rochester (Michigan) , † June 29, 1924 in Washington, DC ) was an American astronomer, geophysicist, geodesist and engineer.

Life

Woodward graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in civil engineering in 1872 and then worked for the United States Lake Survey on their survey of the Great Lakes .

In 1882 he became Assistant Astronomer for the Observation of the Venus Transit from 1882 (the data were used to determine the exact astronomical unit via the parallax to the Sun's edge) and from 1884 to 1890 he was an astronomer in the United States Geological Survey , where he was responsible for the mathematical Department was responsible (tables for cartography, geophysics). He was then in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (and during this time he edited geographical tables for the Smithsonian Institution , published in the 3rd edition in 1906, with an appendix on the theory of errors) and from 1893 professor of mechanics and theoretical physics at Columbia College, where he became dean of the Faculty of Pure Science in 1895.

In 1896 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1905 he became President of the Carnegie Institution in Washington. From 1898 to 1900 he was President of the American Mathematical Society and 1900 President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . From 1915 he was on the Naval Consulting Board. From 1896 he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ For example, he calculated the gravitational influence of large masses on the water level, the cooling of the globe and the angle of impact of meteorites on the moon.

personal data
SURNAME	Woodward, Robert Simpson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American astronomer, geophysicist, geodesist, and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 21, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rochester (Michigan)
DATE OF DEATH	June 29, 1924
Place of death	Washington, DC

[1] For example, he calculated the gravitational influence of large masses on the water level, the cooling of the globe and the angle of impact of meteorites on the moon.