American Eclipse
Page 34
Solar corona as seen near Denver by F. C. Penrose, an “English architect, artist, and astronomer of distinction,” as described by Prof. Charles A. Young of Princeton. [Young (1878b:874)] Penrose submitted this image to the U.S. Naval Observatory, which published it in its volume of reports on the eclipse of 1878. [USNO (1880:Plate 13)] Courtesy of National Archives.
Pencil sketch of solar corona, as observed at Separation, Wyoming Territory, by Annette Helena Watson. Her husband, James Craig Watson, had requested that she make the drawing. “I had instructed [her] beforehand how to make a proper sketch and to compare it with the sun before the total phase was over,” he noted. [USNO (1880:123)] Courtesy of National Archives.
Watercolor of the solar corona as seen at Denver by George W. Hill, an assistant at the Nautical Almanac Office. His boss, Simon Newcomb, called Hill “the greatest master of mathematical astronomy during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.” [Newcomb (1903:218–19)] Hill apologized for imprecision in his eclipse painting due to “my want of familiarity with the handling of artist’s materials.” [USNO (1880:221)] Courtesy of National Archives.
Photograph taken at the end of totality (i.e. third contact) by the party of William Harkness at Creston, Wyoming Territory. “Before the exposure . . . was terminated the sun burst out,” Harkness wrote of this image. “The objective [lens] was then instantly covered, but the flash of sunshine left its mark upon the sensitive film in the shape of a beautiful set of interference rings, produced by reflection of the light at the back surface of the plate.” [USNO (1880:52)] Courtesy of National Archives.
James Craig Watson’s star chart for the eclipse of July 29, 1878. To the right of the large black circle, which represents the overlapping sun and moon, Watson has marked in pencil two unknown objects, the closer one labeled “Vulcan.” Watson described his discovery: “Between the sun and ϴ Cancri, and a little to the south, I saw a ruddy star. . . . [I]t did not exhibit any elongation, such as might be expected if it were a comet in that position.” [USNO (1880:119)] Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
Princeton College eclipse party near Cherry Creek, Denver. Prof. Charles A. Young, the group’s leader, sits second from the right. Astronomer Arthur Cowper Ranyard, a British guest at the American camp, sits on the far right. Courtesy of John G. Wolbach Library, Harvard College Observatory.
U.S. Naval Observatory party preparing to observe the eclipse atop the Teller House Hotel in Central City, Colorado. “This roof being nearly flat was extremely convenient for the setting up of such of our instruments as were mounted on tripods,” wrote the team’s leader, Edward S. Holden, “and the unused and solid chimneys served as admirable piers for the other instruments.” [USNO (1880:147)] Courtesy of U.S. Naval Observatory.
Stereograph card of Vassar College eclipse party, Denver. Cora Harrison sits in the foreground, Maria Mitchell in the middle ground on the far left, and her sister Phebe Mitchell Kendall in the distance behind her. “The only value to the picture,” Mitchell commented, “is the record that it preserves of the parallelism of the three telescopes. You would say it was stiff and unnatural, did you not know that it was the ordering of Nature herself—they all point to the centre of the solar system.” [Kendall (1896:230)] Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
INDEX
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
Abbe, Cleveland, 153–64, 153, 167, 172–73, 177, 193–95, 194, 209–10, 232
altitude sickness of, 163–64
as director of Cincinnati Observatory, 154–55
at Signal Service, 155–57
Abbot, Elizabeth Owen, 87, 126, 176, 192
acute mountain sickness, 163
Adams, John Quincy, 154
Adventists, 2
aerophone, 92, 96, 223
African Americans, in Denver, 120
Allegheny Observatory, 68, 160, 195
Alvan Clark & Sons, 134, 141, 173
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 202, 232
American Association of University Women, 213
American House (hotel), 178
Ann Arbor, Mich., 27–28, 32, 70, 76–77, 214, 219, 220
Ansonia, Conn., 222
Anthony, Susan B., 129, 131, 132
Antietam, Battle of, 30
apocalypse, 1–2, 4
Arago, François, 183–84
arc lights, electric, 221, 222, 226
Arcturus, 147, 148
Arkansas River, Royal Gorge of, 128
Army, U.S., 116
Army Signal Corps, U.S., 152–53, 155
Army Signal Service, U.S., 155–60, 156, 167, 177, 209
Artemis (asteroid), 31
artificial horizon, 135
Aruba, xi, 237, 238
Ashley, James, 25–26
Association of Collegiate Alumnae, 213
asteroids, 70, 146, 199, 220
Europe-American rivalry in finding of, 30–31, 32
finding of, 29–30
naming of, 30
Astronomische Nachrichten, 216
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 128
Australia, xi, 237
automatic telegraph, 16
Avery, Alida C., 129–32, 171, 212
Denver home of, 130–31, 131
Baily, Francis, 182
Baily’s beads, 182, 237
Bankers’ Convention, 34
Bannock War, 78
Barbour, Nelson H., 2
Barker, George F., 22–23, 22, 62, 65, 66, 76, 98, 99, 100, 101, 112, 144, 144, 147, 156, 180, 187, 202, 222, 225, 228, 230, 231
Barnum, P. T., 93, 94, 96, 121
“Battle Hymn of the Republic,” 35, 84
Battle Lake, 231
Bayer, Johann, 186
Beecher, Henry Ward, 94
Belitung Island, Indonesia, 237
Bell, Alexander Graham, 14, 16, 23, 27, 65–66, 214, 234
Bisbee, William H., 184–85, 186
Black-Day, The, or, A Prospect of Doomsday. Exemplified in the Great and Terrible Eclipse . . . ,46
Blaine, James G., 59
Blavatsky, Madame, 93
blue glass craze, 93, 170
Boston, Mass., xi, 94, 151
Boston Daily Advertiser, 198
Boston Globe, 24, 168
Boston Herald, 95
Boulder, Colo., 124, 179
Brinker, Joseph, 170, 172
Brinker Collegiate Institute, 172
Brooklyn Bridge, 20, 95
Brown’s Canyon, 114
Bryn Mawr College, 212
Buchanan, Tex., 3
Burlington, Iowa, 86
Caledonia, H.M.S., 54
Cambridge, Mass., 48
Cambridge University, 143
Camp Nassau, 122
Capitol, U.S., 59, 60
carbon, 66, 90
carbon telephone, 68, 69, 97, 226
Caribbean, xi
Castor, 124
Centennial Exhibition, 9–18, 22, 23, 27, 34, 65–66, 71, 134, 185, 214, 227
Judges’ Pavilion at, 13
Machinery Hall at, 10–11, 10, 12, 20
Central City, Colo., 181, 237
Cherry Creek, 122, 123, 126, 150, 191
Chicago, Ill., 63, 93–94, 109, 208
Chicago Astronomical Society, 124, 172, 180, 190
Chicago Times, xiv–xv, 40, 168, 190
Chicago Tribune, 210
China, 81, 142, 146
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), 120
Chinese laborers, 120
chromosphere, 138
Church of St. Ignatius, 38
Cincinnati, Ohio, 87, 154–55, 160
Cincinnati Observatory, 154–55
Civil War, U.S., 9, 11, 30, 39, 84, 99, 106, 152, 207
Clark, Alvan G., 134, 136
Clarke, Edward H., 39–40, 86, 130, 132, 192, 212–13
Cleveland Leader, 227
Clinton, N.Y., 30
Close, James Brooks, 170
Clymene (asteroid), 31
Cody, William F. “Buffalo Bill,” 94
Colbert, Elias, 124–25
Colorado, 5, 34, 41, 93, 96, 100, 106, 115, 116, 121, 125, 126, 150, 158–59, 160, 163, 164, 167, 169, 170, 189, 209, 214
fight for women’s vote in, 129–32
Colorado Equal Rights League, 199
Colorado Springs, Colo., 159, 160
Colorado Woman Suffrage Association, 129
Colorow, Chief, 123, 123
comets, 86, 188, 209
discovered by Maria Mitchell, 36, 171
see also Halley’s Comet
computers (human), 36, 49, 154
Comte, Auguste, 51
Congress, U.S., 57, 92
funding for expeditions appropriated by, 56, 78, 82, 98
lack of funding for 1878 eclipse by, 56–59
contacts (astronomical), 75
Continental Divide, 105, 231
Cooper, James Fenimore, 4–5
Copernicus, 74, 76
Copley, Mrs., 177, 210
Corliss steam engine, 11, 12
corona, solar, xi, 50, 56, 79, 96, 97, 101, 109, 124–25, 136, 138, 140, 158, 165, 168, 184, 185, 185, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194–95, 194, 201, 202, 210, 212, 236, 237, 238
difficulty in photographing, 124
drawing of, 88, 124–25, 172, 185, 190–91, 194, 195
photographing of, 136, 191
coronal streamers, 194–95, 194, 209–10
coronium, 56
Crawford House, 159
Creston, Wyo., 105–6, 115, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 167, 169, 184
daily routine at, 134–35
establishing longitude and latitude of, 135–36
Cross Timbers, 3
crowdsourcing, 125
Culbertson, Emma, 87, 128, 176, 213
Custer, George Armstrong, 9, 34
Daily Graphic (New York), 24, 89, 167
Daily News (London), 198
Dakota Territory, 55, 158, 194
Dale Creek Bridge, 111, 111
Daley, William, 114–15, 117, 137
Dallas, Tex., 1, 3, 107
Darwin, Charles, 67–68
Darwinism, 17
Davis, Charles Henry, 36–37, 81
Dearborn Observatory, 125
declination, 146
De La Rue, Warren, 53
Delta Cancri, 186
Denver, Colo., 100, 119–32, 119, 150, 158, 163, 167, 170–72, 173, 176, 178, 179, 180, 195, 199–200, 211, 212, 213, 233
Capitol Hill in, 120, 172, 190, 214
climate in, 120–21
Princeton astronomers in, 121–23, 126, 167, 191–92
railroads and, 120
totality in, 121, 183, 189–93, 196
Denver & Rio Grande Railway, 128, 132, 150
Denver Daily Times, 120, 124, 125, 150, 172
Denver Daily Tribune, 58, 126, 190
Denver Press Club, 126
Depression, Great, 229
Description of the Passage of the Shadow of the Moon, over England, in the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on the 22 Day of April 1715 in the Morning, A (Halley), 46
Detroit Free Press, 77
Detroit Observatory (Ann Arbor), 27–28, 27, 29, 70, 74
“diamond ring,” 237
Dickinson, Ed, 112, 114
Dickinson, Emily, 131
Dione (asteroid), 31
Douglass, Frederick, 94
Draper, Anna Palmer, 99, 101, 112, 144, 180, 184, 187, 230, 235
Draper, Henry, 98–99, 98, 100, 101, 110, 112, 137, 138, 140, 144, 145, 167, 169, 175, 180, 187, 210, 230, 235
observatory of, 76, 77
Earth, 29, 48
Eastern Michigan University, 141
eclipse, total solar, of 1878, 2–4, 5–6, 18, 43, 45, 47, 158–59, 208, 233
animals’ response to, 3, 180
astronomers’ anxiety on day of, 169
corona of, 165, 185, 185, 187, 188, 190–91, 192, 194–95, 194, 201, 209–10
crowdsourcing for, 125
in Denver, 121, 183, 189–93, 196
Denver press on, 123–24
Draper observatory for, 137–38, 144–46, 144, 230
duration of, 6, 124, 136, 184, 193
eclipse glasses for, 170–71, 171, 174
final preparations for, 133–38, 146–48
first contact of, 173, 175, 176
funding for, 62, 78, 82, 98
lack of government support for study of, 56–59
morning of, 167–72
Naval Observatory invitations for, 78–79, 82
Newcomb’s camp for, 137
path of, xiv–xv, 49–50, 50, 105, 121, 168, 211
press reports on, 167–68, 197–98
Princeton camp for, 121–23, 126, 150, 191
shadow bands at, 181
totality in, 183–96
weather for, 149, 150–51, 162–63, 164, 169, 170, 172, 175–76, 184, 187
weather forecasting for, 157–58
eclipses, 5, 236
annular, 37
contacts during, 75
lunar, 5, 45, 151
saros cycle of, 45, 237–38
eclipses, partial solar, 5, 45–46
eclipses, total solar, xi–xii, 4–5, 45, 211
of 840, 4
of 1780, 54
of 1806, 4–5, 154
of 1842, 181, 183–84, 190
of 1851, 187
of 1860, 53, 54–55, 55
of 1868, 53
of 1869, 55–56, 86, 99, 122, 133, 158, 159, 183, 186, 194
of 1870, 53, 56, 133, 139, 141, 179, 181, 191, 237
of 1871, 139
of 1878, see eclipse, total solar, of 1878
of 1998, xi, 237
of 1999, 237
of 2012, 237
of 2015, 237
of 2016, 237
atmospheric conditions during, 187
duration of, 52–53
emotional allure of, xi–xii, 236
frequency of, 5, 52
international race to study, 53–56
path of totality of, 46
prediction of, 46–47
superstitions about, 145–46
eclipse seasons, 45
Edison, Marion Estelle (“Dot”), 20–21, 203
Edison, Mary, 20–21
Edison, Thomas Alva, 16, 63–69, 64, 92–93, 97–98, 99, 109–10, 112, 126, 144–45, 144, 147–48, 159, 167, 168, 169, 170, 175, 180, 186–87, 188–89, 195, 198, 200–203, 227, 230, 233, 234
at American Association for the Advancement of Science, 202–3
background of, 15
Barker’s friendship with, 22–23, 228
in Chicago, 109
deafness of, 65, 203
death of, 228–29
disdain for intellectualism professed by, 22
education of, 22
electric pen of, 14–15, 14, 78, 95
“etheric force” proposed by, 24–26, 66–67, 93, 99
Faraday as model for, 23–24
fishing by, 115
home of, Menlo Park, 20–21, 21
home of, West Orange, 229
hunting by, 115, 138–39
incandescent light of, 205, 221–28, 229, 231–32
invited to join Draper’s expedition, 99–101
journey west of, 107–12
lab notebook of, 23–24
Menlo Park workshop of, 19–22, 19, 20, 25–26, 67, 76, 91, 101, 203
on Morse, 67
at National Academy of Sciences, 63, 64–66, 68–69
persistence and self-confidence of, 26
phonograph of, 63–65, 64, 67, 68, 69, 89, 93–94, 95, 97, 99
plaster cast of, 101
post-eclipse life of, 221–2
9
public image of, 93–94, 95
public relations by, 224
radio waves discovered by, 24
in Rawlins, 112–18, 137, 147–48, 169, 175, 180, 186–87, 188–89
relationship with press of, 95, 224–25
ridiculed by Ashley, 25–26
self-promotion by, 93–94, 95, 96
tasimeter demonstrated by, 89–91
as telegraph operator, 15, 138
telephone of, 23, 65–66, 68–69, 90, 95, 97, 226
and transit of Mercury, 76
Wyoming monument to, 231
Edison, Thomas Alva, Jr. (“Dash”), 20–21
Edison Electric Light Company, 222, 225
Edison Speaking Phonograph Company, 93
Einstein, Albert, 219–20, 229
elections, U.S., of 1876, 49, 92
electricity, 23
Barker’s lectures on, 23
electric lighting, 221–28
electric pen, of Edison, 14–15, 14, 78, 95
Elk Mountain, 111
Emancipation Proclamation, 2
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 23
England, 53, 207, 208, 210
ephemeris, 36–37, 48
etheric force, 24–26, 66–67, 93, 99
Eurydice (asteroid), 30
Eurynome (asteroid), 30
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 121, 201
Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873 (Barbour), 2
Exodusters, 3
Experimental Researches in Electricity (Faraday), 23
Faraday, Michael, 23, 24, 26
Faroe Islands, 237
Feronia (asteroid), 30
Forbes, James D., 190
Fort Fred Steele, 106, 115, 134, 176, 184, 202
Fox, Edwin Marshall, 100, 112–13, 114, 137–38, 144, 147, 180, 187, 201–2, 224–25, 230
France, 32, 38, 53, 73, 181, 183, 207, 208, 210
Franklin, Benjamin, 35, 37, 150, 151–52
French Academy of Sciences, 13, 59, 61
Frigga (asteroid), 30
frontier drama, 94
Galbraith, Robert, 114, 117, 137, 144, 175, 230, 231
galvanoscopic frog, 24
Garfield, James A., 57, 59
George III, King of England, 200
Georgia, 106
Germany, 53, 207, 208, 233