Background
He was born on August 10, 1845 at Boston, Massachussets, United States, the son of Benjamin Hill and Mercy (Burgess) Skinner.
He was born on August 10, 1845 at Boston, Massachussets, United States, the son of Benjamin Hill and Mercy (Burgess) Skinner.
He attended the schools in the vicinity of his home, and early developed habits of study which in his later life became dominant characteristics. He continued his education at Beloit College, Beloit, Wiscosin, and pursued a special course in astronomy at the University of Chicago from 1868 to 1870.
While studying at the University of Chicago, he held a position as assistant at the Dearborn Observatory, and after completing his course he became assistant astronomer at the United States Naval Observatory, a position which he held for twenty-eight years.
He passed a competitive examination and in 1898 was commissioned in the naval service as a professor of mathematics. From 1893 to 1902 he was in charge of the twenty-six-inch equatorial. From 1903 until his detachment from the Naval Observatory in 1909, he had charge of the equatorials.
He contributed to the Katalog der Astronomischen Gesellschaft of Leipzig, Germany. This work was published as the Washington Zone Catalogue in 1908 under the title: Catalogue of 8824 stars between 13 50' and 18 10' south declination.
He was placed in charge of the expedition which was sent to the island of Sumatra to observe the total eclipse of the sun on May 18, 1901. He took with him six members of the Observatory staff and five scientists from other observatories in the United States. The expedition was ably handled by Skinner, who carefully arranged to cover all possible contingencies. In addition to the observations made of the total solar eclipse, observations were made at newly erected, outlying stations; at Solok one member of the expedition (W. W. Dinwiddie) discovered a bright comet on the night of May 3.
His writings, in addition to the Washington Zone Catalogue, include results of observations, published by the United States Naval Observatory, the Naval Observatory Expedition to Sumatra (1902), printed first in Popular Astronomy, January 1902, and numerous articles on variables and minor planets for scientific periodicals.
Skinner was retired from the United States naval service with the rank of commander, United States Navy, Professor Corps, in 1907, but remained in active service in the Naval Observatory until 1909.
He died at Framingham, Massachussets.
He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Astronomische Gesellschaft of Leipzig, Germany, and of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America.
He was married to Sarah Elizabeth Gibbs, of Framingham, Massachussets, on February 9, 1874, and they had two children, a daughter and a son.