Charles Leander Doolittle

Background

Charles Leander Doolittle was born on November 12, 1843 in Ontario, Indiana, United States. He was the son of Charles and Celia Doolittle.

Education

Doolittle received his training in astronomy from Prof. J. C. Watson at the University of Michigan.

His college course was delayed by his enlistment during the Civil War and later interrupted by service with the United States Northern Boundary Commission along with Lewis Boss, who was in charge of the astronomical observations.

Doolittle graduated, however, with the degree C. E. , in 1874.

Career

Appointed professor of mathematics and astronomy at Lehigh soon after graduation, Doolittle remained there until 1895, when he accepted a similar position at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1896 the departments were separated and he became Flower Professor of Astronomy and first director of the Flower Observatory. Here he remained until his retirement in 1912.

His observations were begun, before Chandler’s investigations of this phenomenon, with a Zenith Telescope which had been discarded by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and purchased by Lehigh University for the instruction of engineering classes. The heavy teaching schedule which he was carrying and the small instrumental equipment of the Sayre Observatory set sharp limits to a research program. Ambition, perseverance, and painstaking care, however, achieved results of permanent scientific value even under these conditions. He concluded from his early observations that he had evidence of a variation of latitude. Later, at the Flower Observatory, he came to the conclusion that such a variation could be isolated from sources of systematic error only by making observations under a variety of instrumental conditions. He procured, therefore, a Reflex Zenith Tube. With this instrument and with the Zenith Telescope he continued for many years to make nearly simultaneous observations. The evidence still persisted and the whole scries of observations proved a contribution of the highest value in unraveling the tangled mass of evidence.

He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and from 1899 to 1912 treasurer of the American Astronomical Society.

Achievements

• Doolittle served as first director of the Flower Observatory. Professionally, Doolittle is known chiefly for his researches on the variation of latitude.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Treatise On Practical Astronomy, As Applied to Geodesy And Navigation

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Results Of Observations: With The Zenith Telescope Of The Sayre Observatory, From April 1, 1876, To December 27, 1893

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

His first wife, whom Doolittle married on September 18, 1866, and who died during his first year at Bethlehem, was Martha Cloyes Farrand, also of Ontario, Indiana. On May 5, 1882, he married Helen Eugenia Wolle of Bethlehem. His son Eric succeeded him as director of the Flower Observatory.

Father:

Charles Doolittle

Mother:

Celia Doolittle

Second wife:

Helen Eugenia Wolle

First wife:

Martha Cloyes Farrand