by David Baron
21 “My Wife Popsy Wopsy”: Edison technical notes and drawings, Feb. 14, 1872 [TAED NE1678059].
21 “I like it first-rate”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, April 27, 1878, p. 3 [TAED SM029054a].
21 She slept with a revolver: “The Wizard of Menlo Park, by His Daughter Marion Edison Oser” [n.d.], p. 6 [TAED X018A5Z].
22 “I wouldn’t give a penny”: Dyer and Martin (1910:767–68).
22 “That’s wrong!”: Tate (1938:126).
22 “I am the Professor of Physics”: Barker to Edison, Nov. 3, 1874 [TAED NM003132; also in TAEB vol. 2, p. 328].
23 “The man who is certain he is right”: Bence Jones (1870:310).
23 “I think I must have tried”: Dyer and Martin (1910:101).
24 “Mr. Edison . . . promises to become”: New York Herald, Dec. 2, 1875, p. 4 [TAED PA074; also in TAEB vol. 2, p. 668].
24 “Mr. Edison has named”: New-York Tribune, Nov. 30, 1875, p. 2.
24 “a sort of first cousin to electricity”: Daily Graphic (New York), Dec. 2, 1875, p. 3 (vol. 9, p. 243).
24 “may prove of great value”: Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 1, 1875, p. 4.
25 “I do not hesitate to pronounce”: Scientific American, Feb. 19, 1876, p. 116.
25 “simply gratuitous”: Scientific American Supplement, Jan. 29, 1876, p. 78.
25 “Edison About to Astonish the World Again”: Telegrapher, July 29, 1876, pp. 184–85.
CHAPTER 3: NEMESIS
27 University of Michigan’s Detroit Observatory: For a history of the observatory, see Whitesell (1998).
28 “He knew the stars”: Frieze et al. (1882:31).
28 “Two or three or four times a year”: Indianapolis News, Aug. 2, 1878, p. 2.
28 he telegraphed his discovery to Joseph Henry: Watson to Henry, Sept. 28, 1876 [SIA Accession 11-032, Reel M161, Control No. 26884].
28 wired the news to Europe: Nature 14 (363), Oct. 12, 1876, p. 540.
29 “so small that a good walker”: Scientific American Supplement, June 23, 1877, p. 1224.
29 “vermin of the skies”: Peebles (2000:28).
30 “[W]e have great hope that yours is a new one”: Peters to Watson, Nov. 9, 1857 [JCWP Box 1].
30 “I wish they would stop awhile”: Watson to Peters, Nov. 16, 1857 [CHFPP Box 0000.123.2.1].
30 Eurydice: When naming their planets, Peters and Watson used the English spelling of names from classical mythology, but the International Astronomical Union today recognizes the German spelling for asteroids discovered in that time period. Hence Peters’s Eurydice is officially Eurydike, Watson’s Clymene is Klymene, etc. See Kirkwood (1888), Schmadel (2003).
31 “I can surrender my claims”: Detroit Free Press, Oct. 18, 1865, p. 1.
31 “Dr. PETERS gracefully yields”: Hamilton Campus, Oct. 31, 1868, p. 2.
31 “I congratulate you”: Peters to Watson, Sept. 23, 1868 [JCWP Box 1].
31 “The score stands”: Michigan University Magazine, Nov. 1868, p. 73.
31 “Of his personality it may be said”: Newcomb (1903:373).
31 “in defiance of rule”: Holden (1896:30).
32 “great planet shooting match”: Detroit Post, April 21, 1876, p. 2.
32 “If these fellows go on”: Atlanta Daily Sun, Sept. 27, 1871, p. 3.
32 “The picking up of asteroids”: Daily Graphic (New York), Aug. 20, 1877, p. 2 (vol. 14, p. 334).
32 “Prof. P. is beating Prof. Watson”: Michigan Argus (Ann Arbor), May 30, 1873, p. 2.
32 “selfish and unscrupulous in advancing his own interests”: Charles Young to George Comstock, Aug. 22, 1887 [GADRUWM Series 7/4/2 Box 4].
32 “The Hon. James C. Watson one of the greatest”: 1855 notebook, p. 62 [JCWP Box 2]. For more on Watson’s college notebook, see Rufus (1938).
CHAPTER 4: “PETTICOAT PARLIAMENT”
34 “Large Republican Gains”: North American (Philadelphia), Oct. 4, 1876, p. 1.
34 “I think that the war”: Press (Philadelphia), Oct. 4, 1876, p. 8.
34 “The principal event of yesterday”: Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 4, 1876, p. 2.
35 elegant hall of pillars and frescoes: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 25, 1876, p. 2.
35 portrait of Queen Victoria: The portrait, painted by Thomas Sully, now hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For more, see Barratt (235).
35 Woman’s Congress, an annual symposium: The gathering, sometimes called the Women’s Congress, was organized by the Association for the Advancement of Woman, alternately called the Association for the Advancement of Women. For clarity’s sake, I consistently refer to the annual meeting using the singular possessive: Woman’s Congress.
35 including Julia Ward Howe: Howe wrote about the meeting in her diary entries of Oct. 4–5, 1876 [HFP Item 1107, vol. 11]. See also J. W. Howe (1884:458–59), J. W. Howe (1900:387), J. W. Howe (1906:288), and AAW (1893:7).
35 She stepped to a desk: Details of the first day of the Woman’s Congress come from accounts published on Oct. 5, 1876, in many Philadelphia newspapers: Evening Telegraph, p. 8; Philadelphia Inquirer, p. 4; Press, p. 2; Public Ledger, p. 1; Public Record, p. 1; Times, p. 1. Also Daily Graphic (New York), Oct. 6, 1876, p. 2 (vol. 11, p. 664); Woman’s Journal, Oct. 14, 1876. The original program for the 1876 congress is in MMM Reel 7, Item 59.
35 “When we inquire”: In recounting Mitchell’s speech, I have relied upon the transcription in the meeting’s official proceedings [AAW (1877:9–11)]. The speech also appeared, with minor differences in wording, in Woman’s Journal, Oct. 14, 1876, p. 332; and Daily Rocky Mountain News (Denver), Oct. 29, 1876, p. 1.
36 “Astronomy enters into the price”: Thompson and Rodgers (1878:2).
36 “As it is ‘Venus’ ”: Davis to Mitchell, Jan. 7, 1851 [USNO-LOC Box 15].
37 “The lightning that he caught”: Maria Mitchell Notes, 1880, p. 29 [MMM Reel 3, Item 24].
38 “O’Brian’s Belt”: Recorded by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his personal notebook; see Woodson (1980:51). Mitchell, who had not met Hawthorne before arriving in Europe, traveled with his family from Paris to Rome. “[S]he seems to be a simple, strong, healthy-humored woman,” the famous author wrote of the celebrated astronomer [Woodson (1980:17)]. She wrote of him: “I found Mr. Hawthorne very taciturn” [Kendall (1896:90)].
38 “[I]t was evident he did not”: MMM Reel 8, in “Maria Mitchell Letters,” after Item 69a. Slightly edited version in Kendall (1896:143).
38 “[T]he Father kindly informed me”: MMM Reel 2, Item 17. Transcribed in Kendall (1896:158). The astronomer-priest was Angelo Secchi; see Mazzotti (2010).
38 an injustice she fought: Booker (2007:322–26).
38 “Beautiful Venus, pride of the morning”: “Miss Mitchell Sleeps in a Bed,” handwritten poem by Elizabeth Owen Abbot [MMP Folder 6.8]. Typed version with slightly different wording appears in MMM Reel 4, Item 34.
39 “When arrested development”: E. H. Clarke (1873:92–93).
39 “death from over-work”: E. H. Clarke (1873:103).
39 “Vassar victims”: Vassar Miscellany, Jan. 1874, p. 126; Medical News, Oct. 14, 1882, p. 437.
39 barrage of rebuttals: Comfort and Comfort (1874), Duffey (1874), J. W. Howe (1874), Jacobi (1877).
39 “If we know the number of young girls”: Woman’s Journal, Oct. 23, 1875, p. 341.
40 “full and positive equality”: AAW (1877:26).
40 “crush and dishonor”: AAW (1877:77).
40 “tatterdom of flimsy, frayable”: AAW (1877:98).
40 “Here were assembled”: Chicago Times, Oct. 18, 1875, p. 4. See also Woman’s Journal, Nov. 13, 1875, p. 368.
40 as a “petticoat parliament”: Syracuse Daily Courier, Oct. 20, 1875, p. 4. See also World (New York), Oct. 17, 1873, p. 6.
40 “Women are needed in scientific work”: AAW (1877:9).
41 “Does anyone suppose”: AAW (1877:11).
41 the audience had difficulty hearing: In her diary, Mitchell complained of
the poor acoustics. See entry of Nov. 15, 1876 [MMM Reel 6, Item 50, p. 84; transcribed in Albers (2001:243)].
41 under the title: “The Need of Women in Science”: Daily Rocky Mountain News (Denver), Oct. 29, 1876, p. 1.
CHAPTER 5: POLITICS AND MOONSHINE
45 The Babylonians, Greeks, Mayans, and Chinese: Stephenson (1997:58–61), Westfall and Sheehan (2015:108–12), Aaboe et al. (1991), Littmann et al. (2008:33–37).
46 It was not until the eighteenth century: G. Armitage (1997).
46 “for therby the Situation and dimensions”: Pasachoff (1999:2.19). See also Halley (1715), Gingerich (1981). For more on Halley, see A. Armitage (1966), Cook (1998).
47 it gave him a headache: Brewster (1855:157–58).
48 “a big, lusty, joyous man”: F. C. Howe (1925:30).
48 “piercing eyes, a look full of strength”: James Bryce, in Wead et al. (1910:136).
48 “like a glacier”: Merrick (1910:687).
48 obsessed with the motion of the moon: Newcomb (1903:202–11), Norberg (1978).
48 “Miss M. is only a female astronomer after all”: Newcomb to William P. G. Bartlett, May 20, 1862 [SNP Box 4].
48 “the orbit of any one planet”: C. Wilson (1989:253).
48 “To this work I was especially attracted”: Newcomb (1903:63).
49 “a rather dilapidated old dwelling-house”: Newcomb (1903:214). The office soon moved to more respectable quarters at Washington’s Corcoran Building.
49 “I wish to issue some information”: Newcomb to Hill, Jan. 16, 1878 [USNO-LOC Box 16].
49 “Professor Newcomb says Mr. Hill”: Journal of Mabel Loomis, entry for May 3, 1878, p. 224 [MLTP Series III, Box 45, Folder 47, Microfilm Reel 7].
49 “to compute the central line”: Newcomb to Hill, Jan. 23, 1878 [USNO-LOC Box 16].
49 “During its progress, the dark shadow”: NAO (1878:3).
50 lukewarm review from Maria Mitchell: Christian Union, April 17, 1878, p. 328.
50 “Total eclipses of the sun afford”: Newcomb (1878b:29).
50 “[A]s the last ray of sunlight vanishes”: Newcomb (1878b:252).
50 “Besides this ‘corona’ ”: Newcomb (1878b:252).
51 “We thus have the seeming paradox”: Newcomb (1878a:849).
51 “[W]e will never by any means”: Translated from Comte (1835:8). See also M. Pickering (1993), Hearnshaw (2010).
51 “As the geologist with his hammer”: New-York Tribune, Jan. 15, 1873, p. 4.
53 British astronomer Warren De La Rue: De La Rue (1862).
53 Lockyer named it helium: Jules Janssen has often been described as the co-discoverer of helium, but recent books argue that Lockyer deserves sole credit. See Launay (2012:45–46), Nath (2013:5).
53 “that my body had become a kind of projectile”: Tyndall (1873:433).
53 struck rocks off Sicily: There are many accounts of the shipwreck. See W. G. Adams (1871:155), T. M. Lockyer et al. (1928:58), Roscoe (1906:158–62).
53 escaped by balloon: Launay (2012:49–51).
54 “as a Friend of Science”: Baxter (1914:402).
54 Williams blamed the latter: Williams (1785:102). See also Gingerich (1981), Rothschild (2009).
55 “The country was practically under water”: Newcomb (1903:92). Newcomb’s diary from 1860 includes details of the journey [SNP Box 1; see also Kennedy and Hanson (1996)]. Newcomb creatively recounted the expedition in an unpublished manuscript titled “Up the Saskatchewan” [SNP Box 108]. Scudder (1886) also offers an amusing narrative of the trip, albeit with the names disguised.
55 collected insect, fish, and fossil specimens: Unsigned article by Newcomb in The Nor’Wester (Red River Settlement, Canada), Aug. 14, 1860, p. 3.
56 like an ear of corn: USNO (1885:124).
56 a slew of findings: Sands (1870).
56 “[T]he American Government and men of science”: Nature 1 (1), Nov. 4, 1869, p. 15.
56 “[O]ne of our scientific men”: Newcomb (1903:114).
56 “It is doubtful whether we shall have any”: Newcomb to Lindsay, Jan. 2, 1878 [SNP Box 4].
57 “[I]t is still uncertain whether Congress”: Newcomb to Lockyer, Nov. 18, 1877 [SNP Box 4; also at SJNL].
57 occasional guest at the Hayes White House: Journal of Mabel Loomis, entry for Feb. 10, 1878, pp. 173–74 [MLTP Series III, Box 45, Folder 47, Microfilm Reel 7], mentions one White House reception that Newcomb attended. Newcomb’s daughter Anita wrote school essays about two family visits to the Hayes White House [ANMP Box 8].
57 soon-to-be President James A. Garfield: Letters from Garfield to Newcomb can be found in SNP Box 22. Newcomb’s letters to Garfield are in the James A. Garfield Papers, also at the Library of Congress. In 1881, when the assassin Charles Guiteau shot Garfield, Newcomb assisted Alexander Graham Bell in trying to locate where in the president’s body the bullet had lodged, and Newcomb devised a scheme to cool the White House, both futile attempts to save Garfield’s life. See Newcomb (1903:353–63); “List of Journeys,” pp. 22–28 [SNP Box 123]; Temkin and Koudelka (1950); New York Herald, July 15, 1881, p. 2; various items in AGBFP Box 221.
57 proposed sending seven government parties: Rodgers to Congressman John D. C. Atkins, March 19, 1878 [USNO-NA Entry 4, vol. 3, pp. 568–71; also USHR Records of Legislative Proceedings, Committee on Appropriations: Navy (HR45A-F3.10), Folder 8].
58 “The sun is the source of all light”: “The desirability of Observing Eclipses of the Sun,” March 15, 1878, an attachment to letter from Rodgers to Congressman John D. C. Atkins [USNO-NA Entry 4, vol. 3, pp. 566–68; also USHR Records of Legislative Proceedings, Committee on Appropriations: Navy (HR45A-F3.10), Folder 10].
58 “This seems to be another instance”: Denver Daily Tribune, April 20, 1878, p. 2.
59 “The lame excuse”: New-York Tribune, April 8, 1878, p. 4. Also see article on p. 1.
59 “[W]e should feel in a very awkward condition”: Congressional Record (1878:2857).
59 “[Senator Blaine] proposes to send a commission”: Congressional Record (1878:2858).
CHAPTER 6: THE WIZARD IN WASHINGTON
60 all was green along the National Mall: Independent Statesman (Concord, N.H.), April 25, 1878, p. 1.
60 “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”: Bruce (1987:187).
60 infested the building with fleas: Bruce (1987:299).
60 “noon repast”: Syracuse Daily Journal, April 23, 1878, p. 2.
61 “about the sleepiest and slowest institution”: Newcomb to Henry Draper, April 20, 1877 [HMAPDP]. For more on the early years of the National Academy of Sciences, see Kevles (2013).
61 “The name of the animal”: Omaha Daily Bee, July 9, 1878, p. 4.
62 her portrait stared down from the wall: Cincinnati Commercial, April 22, 1878, p. 2.
62 three-story brick row house: “Our home on Eleventh St.,” by Anita Newcomb McGee [SNP Box 124].
62 “I shall be only too glad to do anything”: Barker to Newcomb, April 7, 1878 [SNP Box 57].
62 blind man’s buff: Barker to Newcomb, April 28, 1878 [SNP Box 57]. This was a favorite game in the Newcomb household and was often played by Barker when in town. See “Blind-mans-buff,” a school essay by Newcomb’s daughter Anita, Jan. 14, 1878 [ANMP Box 8]; Journal of Mabel Loomis, entry for May 11, 1878, p. 230 [MLTP Series III, Box 45, Folder 47, Microfilm Reel 7]; Barker to Mrs. Newcomb, April 13, 1898 [SNP Box 15].
62 liked to braid his whiskers: Barker to Newcomb, March 25, 1907 [SNP Box 15].
62 ten minutes past four: Edison’s presentation had been scheduled for 4:00 P.M. but began ten minutes late [NAS, N.A.S. Minutes 1863–1882, pp. 532–34].
63 “stood out at all angles in defiance of comb rule”: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), April 19, 1878, p. 1 [TAED MBSB10537b]. Many details of the presentation of Edison’s phonograph and telephone come from this same article, as well as from the following: Washington Post and Union, April 19, 1878, p. 1 [TAED SM029004a] and p. 4 [TAED MBSB10535X]; Ne
w-York Tribune, April 20, 1878, p. 6 [TAED MBSB10543X]; Daily Critic (Washington, D.C.), April 20, 1878, p. 4; Cincinnati Commercial, April 22, 1878, p. 2; Evening News (Detroit), April 23, 1878, p. 2; Albany Evening Journal, April 23, 1878, p. 1; Syracuse Daily Journal, April 23, 1878, p. 2.
63 “The speaking phonograph has the honor”: Washington Post and Union, April 19, 1878, p. 4 [TAED MBSB10535X].
63 “I declare,” remarked a member of the audience: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), April 19, 1878, p. 1 [TAED MBSB10537b].
63 “The Napoleon of Science”: Sun (New York), March 10, 1878, p. 6 [TAED SB031032b].
63 “The Jersey Columbus”: Daily Graphic (New York), April 2, 1878, p. 1 (vol. 16, p. 221) [TAED MBSB10472; also in TAEB vol. 4, p. 213].
63 “The Wizard of Menlo Park”: Daily Graphic (New York), April 10, 1878, p. 5 (vol. 16, p. 281) [TAED SB031090a].
63 Menlo Park as “Edisonia”: Daily Graphic (New York), April 2, 1878, p. 1 (vol. 16, p. 221) [TAED MBSB10472; also in TAEB vol. 4, p. 213].
63 “The Mania has broken out”: George Bliss to Edison, April 13, 1878 [TAED D7805ZAL; also in TAEB vol. 4, pp. 229–30].
64 “The idea of a talking machine”: Sun (New York), April 29, 1878, p. 3 [TAED MBSB10561].
64 “Speech has become, as it were, immortal”: Scientific American, Nov. 17, 1877, p. 304 [TAED SM030022a].
64 “Let me, like all the rest of the world”: Washington Post and Union, April 19, 1878, p. 1 [TAED SM029004a].
65 demonstrated his phonograph to congressmen: Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), April 19, 1878, p. 1 [TAED MBSB10537a]; Cincinnati Commercial, April 20, 1878, p. 5; Philadelphia Inquirer, April 20, 1878, p. 1 [TAED SM029014a]; Sun (Baltimore), April 20, 1878, p. 1; Raleigh News, April 21, 1878, p. 1; Albany Evening Journal, April 23, 1878, p. 1; Independent Statesman (Concord, N.H.), April 25, 1878, p. 1; Milwaukee Daily News, April 25, 1878, p. 1; Daily Rocky Mountain News (Denver), April 26, 1878, p. 2.
65 late night drop-in at the White House: Chicago Daily Tribune, May 4, 1878, p. 12; Jehl (1937:159–60); Dyer and Martin (1910:210); TAEB vol. 4, p. 859 and p. 863.
65 aversion to crowds: Dyer and Martin (1910:108–9).