Simon Newcomb

Simon Newcomb was a Canadian American astronomer and applied mathematician who compiled tables of astronomical constants and planetary motion that became the international standard for timekeeping and celestial navigation, remaining in use in some form until the mid twentieth century. Despite very little formal early schooling, Newcomb rose to become a professor of mathematics for the United States Navy, later held a professorship at Johns Hopkins University, and became director of the Nautical Almanac Office in 1877, where he carried out the calculations that made his reputation. His astronomical constants were adopted as an international standard by 1896 and remained authoritative for decades afterward. He also made contributions to applied mathematics in economics and statistics over the course of his career. Newcomb received the Copley Medal in 1890 and the Bruce Medal in 1898, and was born in Wallace, Nova Scotia in 1835 and died in Washington, D.C. in 1909.