Forest Ray Moulton was an American astronomer and writer.
Background
Forest Ray Moulton was born on April 29, 1872, in Le Roy, Michigan, United States, into the family of Belah G. and Mary C. (Smith) Moulton. In fact Forest was his parent's first child and he was born in a log cabin in the forest. His mother named him Forest Ray because he was, in her words, “a perfect ray of light and happiness in that dense forest.”
Education
In 1894 Forest received Bachelor of Arts at the Albion College, and in some years he got Doctor of Science in astronomy and mathematics there. In 1899 he became Doctor of Philosophy (summa cum laude) at the University of Chicago, and finally, in 1939 he earned Doctor of Laws at Drake University.
Career
Moulton was sixteen when he began his teaching career, in a rural school near home, from 1888 to 1889. Moulton became a part-time instructor at Albion in 1892 and held this position until 1894. He was appointed as an assistant at the University of Chicago in 1896. In 1898 he became an associate professor and Director of the Department of Astronomy. His career continued to develop and he reached the rank of full professor in 1912. Once the United States entered World War I, Moulton was commissioned a major in the Army and was put in charge of the Ballistics Branch of the Army Ordinance Department at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
After World War I ended Moulton returned to the University of Chicago where he continued to teach until 1926 when he resigned and became a director of the Utilities Power and Light Company in Chicago. He also became an advisor to the president of the Company. The move was not an easy one since the Great Depression began in 1929 and by 1932 one quarter of the workers in the United States were unemployed. Moulton's Company came close to collapse in 1933 but it just survived. He remained a director until 1937 when he took up the post of permanent secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He remained in this post until he retired in 1948.
Moulton theorized that our own solar system, in its primitive gaseous state, might have exhibited spiral structure.
Membership
Society for Visual Education
National Academy of Sciences
American Associate for the Advancement of Science
1937 - 1946
American Associate for the Advancement of Science
1946 - 1948
American Mathematical Society
American Astronomical Society
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Moulton was a first-rate teacher and public speaker as well as an accomplished writer, and he ranked as one of the greatest masters of celestial mechanics, not only of his own generation but of all time. As man and scholar, through his sympathetic interest and generous encouragement, he inspired the warmest affection and highest admiration in the student who was privileged to have him for a friend.
Interests
farming, poetry, classical literature, and painting
Sport & Clubs
tennis, handball, billiards
Music & Bands
opera
Connections
On March 25, 1897, Forest married Estella Laura Gillette, with whom he had four children: Gail Francis, Vieva Gillette, Mary Elizabeth, and Merle Gordon Moulton. Unfortunately, their marriage ended in 1938. After that he married Alicia Pratt on July 28, 1939, but they also divorced in 1951.