Winslow Upton

Winslow Upton (October 12, 1853 – January 8, 1914) was an American astronomer.[1] He published extensively on the subject of meteorology.[2]

Winslow Upton
BornOctober 12, 1853 (1853-10-12)
Salem, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 8, 1914 (1914-01-09) (aged 60)
Providence, Rhode Island
Alma materBrown University, University of Cincinnati
Spouse(s)Cornelia Augusta Babcock
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy, Meteorology
InstitutionsLadd Observatory
Doctoral studentsFrederick Slocum

Biography

He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and was valedictorian when he graduated in 1875.[1] Upton then worked as an assistant at Mitchel Observatory of the University of Cincinnati where he received his master's degree in 1877.[1] He later received an honorary doctorate from Brown in 1906.[3]

He became an assistant astronomer at the Harvard Observatory in 1877. During this time he wrote a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore titled Observatory Pinafore.[4] Then he became an assistant engineer for the U. S. Lake Survey from 1879. In 1880 he was a computer at the U.S. Naval Observatory. He was a computer and assistant professor at the U.S. Signal Service in 1881.[5][6] He was appointed professor and head of the department of astronomy at Brown in 1884.[3] He then became director of Ladd Observatory when it opened in 1891.[7] During his tenure Upton also served as secretary of the faculty and dean at Brown.[2]

He was a member of the U. S. government eclipse expeditions of 1878 and 1883, also of two private expeditions sent out in 1887 and 1889, and in 1896-97 was attached to the southern station of Harvard University at Arequipa, Peru.[8] His systematic research studying meteorology during solar eclipses has been described as "pioneering."[9]

He married Cornelia Augusta Babcock in 1882 and they had two children. Eleanor Stuart Upton was a librarian at the John Carter Brown Library and Yale University Library. Margaret Frances Upton taught bacteriology. She was also a lab technician and research assistant at hospitals.[10]

Published works

Upton wrote a monthly astronomy column for the Providence Journal for twenty years.[3]

  • Upton, Winslow (1881). Information Relative to the Construction and Maintenance of Time Balls. Professional Papers of the Signal Service. 5. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  • Upton, Winslow (1883). "Lectures on Practical Astronomy". In Hazen, W. B. (ed.). Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, to the Secretary of War. 1. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. pp. 102–120. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  • Upton, Winslow (1885). "The Use of the Spectroscope in Meteorological Observations". Memorie della Societa Degli Spettroscopisti Italiani. 13: 113. Bibcode:1885MmSSI..13..113U.
  • Upton, Winslow (1887). An Investigation of Cyclonic Phenomena in New England. Ann Arbor, MI: Register Publishing House. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  • Upton, Winslow; Rotch, Abbott Lawrence; Pickering, Edward Charles (1893). "Meteorological and other observations made at Willows, California, in connection with the total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889". Annals of Harvard College Observatory. 29 (1): 1. Bibcode:1893AnHar..29....1U.
  • Upton, Winslow (1896). Star atlas, containing stars visible to the naked eye. Boston: Ginn & Co. LCCN 05008125. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
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References
  1. Slocum, Frederick (1914). "Winslow Upton". Popular Astronomy. 22: 208–211. Bibcode:1914PA.....22..208S.
  2. Archibald, R. C. (1914). "Winslow Upton". Science. 39 (997): 202–204. Bibcode:1914Sci....39..202A. doi:10.1126/science.39.997.202. PMID 17747743.
  3. "Professor Upton, Astronomer, Dead". Providence Daily Journal. January 9, 1914.
  4. Grier, David Alan (2013). "A Carpet for the Computing Room". When Computers Were Human. Princeton University Press. pp. 84–87. ISBN 9781400849369.
  5. Upton, William Henry (1893). "American Uptons". Upton Family Records: Being Genealogical Collections for an Upton Family History. London: Mitchell and Hughs. pp. 315–316. LCCN 09015478.
  6. Mitchell, Martha (1993). "Upton, Winslow". Encyclopedia Brunoniana. Providence, RI: Brown University Library. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  7. Mitchell, Martha (1993). "Ladd Observatory". Encyclopedia Brunoniana. Providence, RI: Brown University Library. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  8. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Upton, Winslow" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  9. Aplin, K. L.; Scott, C. J.; Gray, S. L. (2016). "Atmospheric changes from solar eclipses". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 374 (2077): 20150217. arXiv:1603.02987. Bibcode:2016RSPTA.37450217A. doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0217. PMID 27550760.
  10. Upton family papers. Northampton, MA: Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History, Smith College Libraries.

Further reading
  • Upton, Eleanor S.; Upton, Margaret F. (1971). An Earth-Bound Astronomer: Winslow Upton. Northhamton, MA: Metcalf Printing. ASIN B00070N68Q.


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