American astronomer, born in St. Louis, MO, on the 5th of November 1846. He studied at West Point, and subsequently held several positions in the army, as instructor in mathematics and philosophy. He resigned from the army in 1873, and was appointed professor of mathematics in the navy, where he was assigned to duty in the naval observatory as assistant to Professor Newcomb. The telegraph time-ball in New York was planned by him. In 1881 he became professor of astronomy in the University of Wisconsin and director of the new Washburn Observatory, where he remained, with brief intermissions, until 1886, and published four volumes of observations. In 1883 he visited the Caroline Islands to observe a total eclipse of the sun; in 1896 was chosen president of the University of California and director of the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, San José. He published Astronomy for Students (1880); Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works (1881); Hand-book of Lick Observatory (1888). See also The Mogul Emperors of Hindustan.
