Charles Augustus Young

Charles Augustus Young (December 15, 1834 – January 4, 1908) was an American astronomer, noteworthy as a pioneer of Astronomical spectroscopy solar spectroscopy. In 1874 he was elected to both the American Philosophical Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Young served as the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for a one year term from 1883 to 1884. Quotes ... Heinrich Schwabe Schwabe’s discovery of the Sunspots#Solar cycle periodicity of the sun-spots in 1851; the development of Astronomical spectroscopy spectroscopic analysis between 1854 and 1870; the eclipse observations since 1860; the researches of Richard Christopher Carrington Carrington, William Huggins Huggins, Warren De la Rue De La Rue, Norman Lockyer Lockyer, Pierre Janssen Janssen, Angelo Secchi Secchi, Hermann Carl Vogel Vogel, Langley, and others; the establishment of the solar observatories at Astrophysical Institute Potsdam#Foundation of the Astrophysical_Observatory Potsdam (AOP) Potsdam and Paris Observatory#Meudon Meudon—these are all evidences of the ardor with which astronomers have devoted themselves to the problems of solar science, and of their rich rewards. The Sun Volume 34 of International Scientific Series. American ed D. Appleton & Company 1881 New York https://books.google.com/books?id=2kIJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA15 15 (321 pages) At the time of its passing and nearest approach, Mars is said to be in “Opposition (astronomy) Opposition,” because it is then, like the full moon, opposite to the sun in the sky, rising at sunset and conspicuous all night long. …We find observations of the planet as far back as 356 b.c. , when on April 4th, as Aristotle records, it was “Occultation occulted” by the moon. (The date of this observation was first settled by Kepler.) Other observations in considerable number are quoted by Ptolemy, who himself observed with great care the opposition of the year 130 a.d. at Alexandria. The Planet Mars The Presbyterian Review 10 39 400–414 July 1889 https://commons.ptsem.edu/id/presbyterianrevi1039unse-dmd004 (quote from p. 401) By means of Astronomy the latitudes and longitudes of places upon the earth's surface are determined, and by such determinations alone is it possible to conduct vessels upon the sea. Moreover, all the operations of surveying upon a large scale, such as the determination of the boundaries of countries, depend more or less upon astronomical observations. The same is true of operations which, like the railway service, require an accurate knowledge and observance of time; for the fundamental timekeeper is the diurnal revolution of the heavens, as determined by the astronomer's Transit instrument transit-instrument. Lessons in Astronomy Including Uranography: A Brief Introductory Course Without Mathematics, for Use in Schools and Seminaries Boston Ginn & Company 1891 https://books.google.com/books?id=TDwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1 1 (357 pages) Quotes about Charles Augustus Young In the summer of 1877 Professor Young accepted a call to the professorship of astronomy at Princeton, with the assurance of a fine modern equipment and less time required for the classroom. His special appreciation of instruments and his well-balanced judgment as a teacher contributed to the establishment within a short time of the best astronomical observatory for the purposes of instruction then existing. By 1882 the excellent 23-inch Clark refractor was set up in the Halsted observatory, and provided with a powerful solar spectroscope for his own researches. But in spite of the energy necessarily required for this new construction, Professor Young was active in research as well as writing. In 1878 he conducted a Princeton party to Denver to observe the Solar eclipse of July 29, 1878 eclipse of July 29. Edwin Brant Frost, Biographical Memoir of Charles Augustus Young 1834-1908 Biographical Memoirs of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences VII 1910 89–114 https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/young-charles.pdf (quote from p. 100) External links Category:1834 births Category:1908 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Astronomers from the United States Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:Dartmouth College faculty Category:Princeton University faculty Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:People from New Hampshire