Specola Guestbook: July 21, 1911 – Joel Metcalf
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from July 21, 1911, when Joel Metcalf made a visit.
Joel H. Metcalf (1866-1925) Source: Old Colony History Museum
Next to his name, Rev. Joel Hastings Metcalf (1866-1925) wrote "Winchester, Mass." He was a Unitarian minister and an avid amateur astronomer who specialized in hunting asteroids and comets.
Between 1905 and 1914, he discovered 41 asteroids and several comets. He was a member of the visiting committees of the Harvard Observatory and the Ladd Observatory (Brown U.)
The asteroids 726 Joëlla and 792 Metcalfia (both among the 41 he discovered) are named for him, and several of the comets he discovered also bear his name.
Specola Guestbook: June 21, 1911 – Robert S. Woodward
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from June 21, 1911, when Robert S. Woodward made a visit.
Robert S. Woodward (1849-1924) Source: American Mathematical Society
Next to his name, Robert Simpson Woodward (1849-1924) wrote, "President Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C."
From 1884-1890, he was an astronomer for the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1890-1893, he served in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, during which he developed an inexpensive technique that improved how base lines are established. Following that, he was a professor of mechanics and mathematical physics at Columbia University until 1905, when he became the second president of the Carnegie Institution (after Daniel C. Gilman). During his tenure, the scientific reputation of the Carnegie Institution grew.
Woodward also served as president of the American Mathematical Society, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served on the Naval Consulting Board.
[Note: As far as I can tell, Robert Simpson Woodward is not related to Robert Upshur Woodward, the journalist for the Washington Post who reported on the Nixon Watergate scandal.]
Religious Scientists: Fr. Roger Boscovich S.J., F.R.S. (1711-1787) – Atomic Theory
Roger Boscovich S.J. (1711-1787) Portrait by R. Edge Pine, 1760.
Fr. Roger Joseph Boscovich S.J. was one of the last great polymaths. His areas of study and work include physics, mathematics, atomic theory, celestial mechanics, geodesy, philosophy, theology, architecture, poetry, and more.
Biographical Sketch
Ruđer Josip Bošković was born May 18, 1711 to a merchant family in Dubrovnik, in what is today Croatia. He attended the Jesuit school in Dubrovnik. In 1725, he traveled to Rome to study at the Roman College, and in 1731 entered the Jesuit order. He was ordained a priest in 1744.
He showed aptitude for mathematics and the natural sciences, and from 1740-1759 served as a professor of mathematics at the Roman College. It is during this time that he made many of his more significant scientific contributions.
In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV requested Boscovich’s input on a little problem. The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica was developing cracks. Boscovich recommended securing the dome with iron bands, which was then implemented successfully. This led him to be consulted on other such projects.
Boscovich was well studied on the latest physics from contributors such as Isaac Newton, and promoted Newton's works in continental Europe. He also successfully petitioned Benedict XIV to remove Copernicus’s works from the Index of forbidden books.
In 1759, the Jesuit superior general Lorenzo Ricci named Boscovich a Jesuit Visitor, for which he traveled to Paris and London. His visit to London also had a diplomatic dimension, serving as ambassador to ease tensions between the British government and his native Ragusa. In 1764 he became professor of mathematics at Pavia, near Milan. In 1765 he helped establish the observatory of Brera, and he became its first director in 1770.
In 1773, an event occurred that would deeply affect not only Roger Boscovich, but every Jesuit alive at the time. Pope Clement XIV, bowing to political pressure from Portugal, Spain, and France, formally suppressed the order. (The suppression would not be lifted until 1814, many years after Boscovich’s death.)
At this time, Boscovich was invited by King Louis XV of France to relocate to Paris and become the director of optics for the French Navy.
In 1782, after some disputes with Laplace and other rivals over scientific priority, he left France and returned to Milan. He died there of lung disease on Feb 13, 1787.
Scientific Contributions
Atomic Theory: While Boscovich’s early atomic models have been superseded by modern atomic theory, he was the first to develop a plausible scientific model for the theory of the atom. Unlike many of his predecessors, he rejected the idea of the atom as an extended indivisible body. Instead, each atom was a point particle that interacted with other atoms though forces that acted at a distance. (Some have also called this a precursor to field theories.)
Interatomic forces varied in direction (attractive / repulsive) and strength at varying distances. At larger distances, the force manifested as the gravitational attraction described by Newton. At close interatomic distances, at certain distances the force was attractive, allowing atoms to come together in coherent structures, but at closer distances it became repulsive again, preventing atoms from collapsing into one another. Repulsive forces between component atoms are also why extended bodies appear solid.
This work was published under the title Philosophiae naturalis theoria redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium. (The Theory of Natural Philosophy derived to the Single Law of Forces which Exist in Nature.)
Celestial Mechanics: In 1746 he had developed a method for calculating the orbit of a comet from three observations of its position.
He developed a method for determining the equator of a rotating body from three observations of a given point on the surface.
Planetary Science: He used the method of stellar occultations to determine that the Moon has no atmosphere. [Insert joke about lunar restaurants]. He published this in 1753 in De lunæ atmosphæra dissertatio. The method of stellar occultation is still the standard technique of studying the atmospheric densities of distant objects, such as Pluto.
His other contributions are many. He organized observations of the transits of Venus and Mercury. He measured gravity anomalies (variations in the strength of the local gravitational field) along the surface of the Earth. He developed ways of measuring the limits of telescope resolution. He studied aurorae. He made improvements to the achromatic telescope and the ring micrometer. His mathematical contributions helped Legendre develop the principle of least squares. His contributions go on, but I haven’t had a chance to research them all.
He was named a member of the Royal Society of London in 1761. He was also a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
There is a lunar crater named for him, as is the asteroid 14361 Boscovich.
Of him, Pope Benedict XVI said (Address in Croatia, June 4, 2011):
I would like to single out Father Ruđer Josip Bošković…. He is a good illustration of the happy symbiosis of faith and scholarship, each stimulating the other through research that is at the same time open, diversified and capable of synthesis. … In Bošković, there is analysis, there is study of multiple branches of knowledge, but there is also a passion for unity. This is typical of Catholic culture. … The experts say that his theory of “continuity”, which holds true both in the natural sciences and in geometry, accords well with some of the great discoveries of modern physics. What are we to say? Let us pay tribute to the illustrious Croat, but also to the true Jesuit; let us pay tribute to the cultivator of truth who knows how far the truth surpasses him, but who also knows, in the light of truth, how to engage fully the resources of reason with which he has been endowed by God himself.
Specola Guestbook: April 20, 1911 – George C. Comstock
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from April 20, 1911, when George C. Comstock made a visit.
George C. Comstock (1855-1934). [Source: Stebbins, J. (1938) "Biographical Memoir of George Cary Comstock." National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs 20:160-182.]
As an astronomer, he mostly studied stellar aberration, atmospheric refraction, and the proper motion of double stars. He was a founding member of the American Astronomical Society in 1899 and was a coauthor of its constitution. He served as its first secretary, and in 1925 was elected president.
In 1899 he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Specola Guestbook: March 20, 1911 – P. H. Cowell
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from March 20, 1911, when P. H. Cowell made a visit.
Next to his name, Philip Herbert Cowell F.R.S. (1870-1949) wrote, "Nautical Almanac Office, Gray's Inn, London."
He was superintendent of the H.M. Nautical Almanac Office, part of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, from 1910-1930.
As an astronomer, he was particularly dedicated to celestial mechanics, computing and refining the orbits of many comets and other solar system bodies. He developed a method for computing perturbations in an orbit that proved to be both relatively simple and robust. He is known for refining the orbit of the moon and resolving a discrepancy between its observed orbit and its theoretical orbit.
He also showed that the supposed perturbations of the orbit of Neptune--that suggested the existence of an undiscovered planet beyond its orbit--were erroneous and disappeared when all effects were accounted for. (Ironically, the search for the nonexistent "Planet X" did coincidentally result in the discovery of Pluto.)
He discovered the asteroid 4358 Lynn.
The asteroid 1898 Cowell is named for him.
Specola Guestbook: Dec 13, 1910 – Maurycy Rudzki
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from December 13, 1910, when Maurycy Rudzki made a visit.
Maurycy Pius Rudzki (1862-1916)
Next to his name, Maurycy Pius Rudzki (1862-1916) wrote, "k.k. Sternwarte Krakau" (The Royal Observatory of Krakow). [n.b. Moritz is a variation of Maurycy]
Rudzki was a geophysicist who directed the department of geophysics and meteorology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He was the first person to be formally called a professor of geophysics.
He established the first seismological observatory in Krakow, and in 1904 started the bulletin, Resultate der meteorologischen, seismologischen und magnetischen Beobachtungen an der k.k. Sternwarte in Krakau.
His research included seismology, oceanography, meteorology, and cartography. In geophysics, his research focused on elastic anisotropy as it pertained to the propagation of seismic waves.
Religious Scientists: Sr. Miriam Michael Stimson O.P. (1913-2002); Structure of DNA
Sr. Miriam Michael Stimson O.P. (1913-2002)
In 1962, Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for discovering the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule. This work could not have been done without the discoveries of numerous other scientists, many of whose contributions have gone unrecognized. One such unsung hero in the quest for the building blocks of life was a Catholic nun at a humble Michigan university: Sr. Miriam Michael Stimson, O.P.
Biographical Sketch:
Marian Emma Stimson was born into a devout Catholic family in Chicago on December 14, 1913. She attended Sienna Heights College in Adrian, Michigan. In 1935, she joined the Adrian Dominican Sisters, taking the name Miriam Michael.
She received a B.S. in Chemistry from Siena Heights College in 1936. She continued her studies at the Institutum Divi Thomae in Cincinnatti, where she received her M.S. in 1939.
She then joined the chemistry faculty at Siena Heights College, simultaneously working toward her Ph.D. at Institutum Divi Thomae, which she completed in 1948.
She remained at Siena Heights College for most of her career, except for a stint at Keuka College in New York between 1969 and 1978. She started an undergraduate research program at the university. She chaired the chemistry department from 1948-1968 and served as director of graduate studies from 1978-1991.
In 1953, Sr. Miriam Michael was the second woman in history (after Marie Curie) to be invited to lecture at the Sorbonne, and the first woman invited to lecture at Notre Dame University.
Sr. Miriam Michael Stimson died of a stroke in Chicago on June 17, 2002.
Scientific Contributions:
Much of Stimson’s academic career involved using spectroscopy to study the chemistry of amino acids and other organic molecules pertinent to biology. A member of the modern scientific culture, she published countless articles in respected journals, many of them with several coauthors.
She developed a technique of using potassium bromide (KBr) to prepare the amino acids and other molecules under study. The KBr was transparent to the infrared wavelengths used in her spectroscope, providing a significant improvement over previous oil-based preparations.
With this technique, she studied the structure of DNA. At the time, it was thought that the nucleotide bases (ACGT, or adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine) were located on the outside of the DNA molecule, but Stimson was able to determine that they were interior to the structure. (Today, we think of them as the “rungs” of the helical ladder.)
Earlier in her career, Stimson also studied cancer (one of the motivations that led to the study of DNA.) She also studied wound-healing hormones. This led to the development of an ointment that is known today as Preparation H.
Specola Guestbook: Oct 21, 1910 – Guido Horn d’Arturo
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from October 21, 1910, when Guido Horn made a visit.
Guido Horn d'Arturo (1879-1967). Source: University of Bologna Historic Archives.
Next to his name, Guido Horn d'Arturo (1879-1967) wrote, "R. osservatorio astronomico di Torino" (Royal astronomical observatory of Turin).
He was an astronomer who in 1921 would become the director of the Bologna observatory. Born in Trieste, he studied in Vienna and then worked at observatories in Trieste, Catania, Turin (where he was at the time of his visit to the Specola) and the Roman College, before ending up in Bologna.
During World War I (i.e. after his visit to the Specola), Guido Horn added d'Arturo to his name to Italianize it. He served in the Italian army, though his native Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at that time. At the start of World War II, he lost his post at Bologna because he was a Jew. He was reinstated in 1945.
Guido Horn was one of the first to attempt a segmented-mirror design for large telescopes. His early mirror composed of hexagonal segments had a diameter of 180 cm.
Guido Horn d'Arturo with his segmented mirror. (Source: Museo Ebraico di Bologna)
Coelum Astronomia Magazine
In 1921, he started the Pubblicazioni dell'Osservatorio Astronomico Universitario. He also founded the astronomy magazine Coelum in 1931.
The asteroid 3744 Horn-d'Arturo is named for him.
Specola Guestbook: July 11, 1910 – Emily Dobbin
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from July 11, 1910, when Emily Dobbin made a visit.
Next to her name, Emily Elisabeth Dobbin (1875-1949) wrote, "Inst. Math & Surveying, M.A.H.S., St. Paul, Minn." (Instructor of Mathematics and Surveying, Mechanic Arts High School, St. Paul MN)
Dobbin was trained as an astronomer, receiving a masters' degree from the University of Chicago in 1903. She worked at Yerkes Observatory, resulting in two single-authored publications (one on the orbit of the Jovian satellite Amalthea and another on Orion-type stars). However, her astronomical career never really progressed past that point. She taught mathematics, first at the University of Missouri, and then at a high school in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dobbin is particularly notable for her work in an entirely different field: that of the women's suffrage movement. She was a member of the St. Paul Suffrage Club at least as early as 1909, and participated in the national movement as well. She served as president of the St. Paul Political Equality Club in 1911. In 1914, a fellow suffragette Clara Hardenbrook was arrested while trying to vote, and Dobbin paid her legal fees.
Specola Guestbook: July 11, 1910 – Anne Sewell Young
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from July 11, 1910, when Anne Sewell Young made a visit.
Anne Sewell Young (1871-1961) Source: Library of Congress
Next to her name, Anne Sewell Young (1871-1961) wrote, "John Payson Williston Observatory, South Hadley, Mass."
After finishing an M.S. at Carleton College, Young came to Mount Holyoke College in 1898 where she became director of the John Payson Williston Observatory. Meanwhile, she completed her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1906.
Her astronomical research involved many fields: her Ph.D. was a survey of stars in the constellation Perseus. She also supervised research on sunspots and a student expedition to observe a solar eclipse in 1925. Her primary interest was variable stars. She was a founding member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers and became its president in 1923.
Religious Scientists: Fr. Francesco Grimaldi S.J. (1618-1663), Optics of Diffraction
Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618-1663)
Today I present yet another Jesuit physicist/astronomer: Francesco Maria Grimaldi. He made a number of contributions in physics and astronomy, many of which in collaboration with another Jesuit: Fr. Giovanni Battista Riccioli S.J. (1598-1671). I will deal with Riccioli in a future post. However, Grimaldi can take full credit for pioneering the study of diffraction of light, and in coining the term, “diffraction.”
Biographical Sketch: Grimaldi was born in Bologna in 1618. His father, a wealthy silk merchant, died when Francesco was still very young. In 1632 (at age 14) he entered the Jesuit order with his brother Vincenzo. After two years as a novice, he studied rhetoric for a year in Novellara. In 1635 he traveled to Parma for philosophy studies at the college of S. Rocco, but after only one year transferred to Ferrara to begin studying physics. He returned to Bologna to finish his philosophy studies. In 1638 he he was missioned to be professor at the Jesuit college of Bologna, where he would spend the next 25 years. He also undertook his theological studies during this period. He was ordained a priest in 1645. He finished his doctorate in 1647, and took final vows as a Jesuit in 1651. He died of a sudden illness in Bologna in 1663, at the age of 45.
He originally met Riccioli in Parma at S. Rocco, where the elder Jesuit taught him theology. When Grimaldi returned to Bologna in 1638, he found Riccioli there, and their scientific collaboration began. Between ca. 1640-50, he served as the assistant to Riccioli in his studies on geodesy, on the physics of falling bodies, and on lunar mapping.
It was after this period that Grimaldi did his work on diffraction.
Scientific Contributions:
Diffraction: Grimaldi was arguably the first to carefully observe the diffraction of light around solid objects. He conducted several experiments on the subject. For instance, a thin rod placed in a narrow beam of light would cast a shadow that was wider than predicted by purely geometric considerations. The wings of the shadow were bordered by colored bands. Also, sunlight passing through two narrow slits would interfere with itself, creating a dimmer result than sunlight passing through just one slit. He coined the term, “diffraction” for these phenomena. From these and other experiments, Grimaldi concluded that light moves analogously to a liquid (i.e. wave) rather than like the movement of solid particles.
Diagrams from Grimaldi's experiments in diffraction: (A) Experimental setup for illumination from a slit in a window AB with an opaque rod EF casting a shadow. The edges of the shadow are wider than geometric considerations would allow. (B) Pattern of light and dark colored lines at the edge of the shadow observed by Grimaldi. (C) A second experiment with sunlight passing through two consecutive slits. The image of the light extended into the zones IN and OK on the screen, which would have been excluded by geometrical considerations. Source: Grimaldi Physicomathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride, aliisque annexis, 1665.
His work on optics was published posthumously in 1665, in Physicomathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride, aliisque annexis (A physicomathematical thesis on light, colors, the rainbow and other related topics). Isaac Newton was aware of Grimaldi’s work in this field, and referenced it in his own work, “Optiks” (1704).
Collaboration with Riccioli: Grimaldi assisted Riccioli in several studies. Most of these will be described in greater detail in a future post.
They did experiments of the physics of falling bodies, dropping objects of different weights off Bologna’s Asinelli tower. They timed the fall with a pendulum. (Because some of the balls were light enough to be affected by air resistance, their results did not agree with Galileo’s conclusions.)
In astronomy, they attempted to measure the diameters of stars through a telescope. (In fact, they were measuring the star’s relative brightness.)
They surveyed a meridian line for Bologna.
They developed maps of lunar surface features. It was Riccioli who named the lunar seas (such as Mare Tranquilitatis), but it was largely Grimaldi who named craters after prominent scientists. Several of the craters are also named after Jesuit scientists. Most of these names are preserved in the official IAU nomenclature for lunar features.
Map of the Moon by Riccioli and Grimaldi (from Almagestum Novum, 1651)
There is a crater on the moon named after Grimaldi.
Specola Guestbook: June 20, 1910 – Arthur L. Day
Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory. A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints.
Today's guestbook entry is from June 20, 1910, when Arthur Day made a visit.
Arthur L. Day (1869-1960)
Source: Library of Congress
Next to his name, Arthur Louis Day (1869-1960) wrote, "Geophysical Laboratory, Washington D.C."
In 1907, Arthur Day became the first director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. The founding of the laboratory was a direct result of his research on rock-forming minerals while he was with the U.S. Geological Survey. He is most noted for research on the isomorphism and thermal properties of feldspars.
He also contributed research in vulcanology, seismology and geothermal energy.
He was vice president of the National Academy of Science from 1933-1941, and became president of the Geological Society of America in 1938.
In 1941, the Geological Society of London awarded Day the Wollaston Medal, its highest honor.
In 1948, Day endowed an award (the Arthur L. Day award) presented annually by the Geological Society of America for distinction in the application of physics or chemistry to solving geologic problems.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences presents triennially the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship named in his honor.
[Edit: Thanks to a helpful comment from a reader, there is a small correction. In the original version, I stated that Day received the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of America. It was in fact awarded by the Geological Society of London.]