Simon Newcomb | |
|---|---|
 Newcomb c. 1905 | |
| Born | March 12, 1835 Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | July 11, 1909 (aged 74) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BS, 1858) |
| Spouse |
Mary Caroline Hassler
(m. 1863) |
| Children | 4, incl. Anita Newcomb McGee and Anna Josepha also William Bartlett Newcomb and Emily Kate Newcomb |
| Awards | Copley Medal (1890) Bruce Medal (1898) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy Mathematics |
| Academic advisors | Benjamin Peirce |
| Doctoral students | Henry Ludwell Moore |
| Signature | |
 | |
Simon Newcomb (March 12, 1835 – July 11, 1909) was a Canadian–American astronomer, applied mathematician, and autodidactic polymath. He served as Professor of Mathematics in the United States Navy and at Johns Hopkins University. Born in Nova Scotia, at the age of 19 Newcomb left an apprenticeship to join his father in Massachusetts, where the latter was teaching.
Though Newcomb had little conventional schooling, he completed a B.S. at Harvard in 1858. He later made important contributions to timekeeping, as well as to other fields in applied mathematics, such as economics and statistics. Fluent in several languages, he also wrote and published several popular science books and a science fiction novel.