(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
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https://www.amazon.com/Astronomical-Expedition-Southern-Hemisphere-1849-50-51-52/dp/1354454073?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1354454073
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ A Catalogue Of 1963 Stars Reduced To The Beginning Of The Year 1850, Together With A Catalogue Of 290 Double Stars: The Whole From Observations Made At Santiago, Chili, During The Years 1850-'51-'52 James Melville Gilliss, United States Naval Observatory Govt. Print. Off., 1870 Science; Astronomy; Double stars; Science / Astronomy; Stars; Stars, Double
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(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Observations To Determine The Solar Parallax James Melville Gilliss, Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Matthew Fontaine Maury, William Cranch Bond, Thomas Maclear A.O.P. Nicholson, printer, 1856 Parallax; United States Naval Astronomical Expedition/ (1849-1852); United States Naval Astronomical Expedition/ 1849-1852
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James Melville Gilliss was born on September 6, 1811, in Georgetown, D. C. He was the third child and oldest son of George and Mary (Melville) Gilliss, and a descendant of Thomas Gilliss, a Scotchman, who settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at some time prior to 1668.
Gilliss entered the navy as a midshipman at the age of fifteen and in 1831, received the grade of passed midshipman. His scientific impulses, he was accustomed to say, were roused to active vigor soon after his examination by remarks to the effect that there was not an officer in the navy capable of conducting a scientific enterprise.
In 1833, he applied for leave of absence and entered the University of Virginia, but excessive study injured his eyes and, unable to continue there, he returned to duty. In 1835 he studied in Paris for some six months.
Ordered to Washington and assigned to the Depot of Charts and Instruments in 1836, on June 14, 1837, Gilliss was put in charge of this establishment, which, under Lieut. Charles Wilkes, had grown to the pretentiousness of a wooden building fourteen feet by thirteen, located on Capitol Hill, and housing a 4-inch transit instrument.
In September 1838, he undertook to make the astronomical observations in Washington necessary to the evaluation of the longitude observations of the Wilkes exploring expedition, which embarked that month.
“From that time, ” he said, “till the return of the expedition in June 1842, I observed every culmination of the moon, and every occultation visible at Washington, which occurred between two hours before sunset and two hours after sunrise”.
He also carried on the duties of the office in regard to instruments, charts, and magnetic and meteorological observations. Becoming aware of discrepancies in the few star catalogs in his possession, he filled in his time observing 1, 248 stars in the belief that “the mites which I could add to the data for more correctly locating ‘the landmarks of the universe’ would not be entirely unworthy of collection”.
Gilliss had practically no library through which to draw on the experience of others and very few colleagues with whom he could consult but endowed with the remarkable keenness of sight and hearing and conscientious in his attention to detail, with the simple instruments in his ill-adapted building he made observations seldom equaled for accuracy.
In 1841, the inadequacy of the existing building and equipment for astronomical research was urgently pointed out by Gilliss to the Board of Naval Commissioners, whose recommendation, with the endorsement of the Secretary of the Navy, was laid before the President in December 1841.
The following August an act of Congress provided for the establishment of a naval observatory at Washington. Gilliss was ordered to prepare plans for the building and secure the instruments.
He visited Europe in the interest of the observatory, returning in March 1843; by September 1844 the building was finished, the instruments were mounted and adjusted, and a library had been procured.
Gilliss was keenly disappointed when his successor as superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, Lieut. Matthew F. Maury was assigned to the superintendency of the Observatory; nevertheless, he bore his disappointment bravely, remarking to his associates that “an officer must obey orders and not find fault with them”.
During the subsequent months he prepared his “Astronomical Observations” of 42 for the press, and they were published in 1846. The establishment of this, the first observatory in the United States devoted entirely to research, together with the publication of the first volume of astronomical observations to be issued in America and the preparation of the first catalogue of stars, set an example the importance of which it would be difficult to overestimate.
The expedition, of which he was put in charge, was authorized by Congress - largely, it would seem, out of deference to the resolutions of approval by the learned societies of the country - and was the occasion of the first order, to Henry Fitz, for an American-made lens of considerable size.
Gilliss located his southern station at Santiago, Chile, and, with two assistants, continued his observations of Venus and Mars from 1849 to 1852.
Again his spare time was filled with reobservation of the stars of La Caille’s Catalogue, and with 33, 000 observations of 23, 000 stars within 24-1/5° of the South Pole.
Furthermore, many observations of earthquakes were made and reduced, and magnetic and meteorological observations were a regular part of the daily program.
The success of the undertaking to determine the solar parallax depended, of course, on the simultaneous observations in both hemispheres.
When Gilliss returned to Washington with boxes full of data gathered in three years of unremitting labor he found that practically nothing had been done in the northern hemisphere. The expedition resulted, however, in the establishment of a permanent observatory in Santiago.
In 1855, the Naval Retiring Board placed Gilliss on the “reserved list” on the ground that twenty years had elapsed since his last sea service. This action made him feel unnecessarily humiliated.
By order of the Secretary of the Navy, however, he was retained at full pay to complete his report on the Santiago investigations. The report included, besides astronomical and meteorological observations, a treatise on “Chile: Its Geography, Climate, Earthquakes, Government, Social Conditions, Mineral and Agricultural Resources, Commerce, etc. ”
Only four of the six volumes planned were published. In 1858, Gilliss went again to South America, crossed the Peruvian desert to Olmos, and in the intervals of intermittent fever observed the solar eclipse.
In 1860, he observed another eclipse in Washington Territory. At the outbreak of the Civil War, when Maury resigned his commission to enter the service of the Confederacy, Gilliss was at last put in charge of the Naval Observatory.
At first, his duties included that of equipping the vessels of the navy with charts and instruments, in which connection he was able to stimulate greatly the production of American lenses and instruments.
In spite of the confusion of the war, at the Observatory instruments were put in condition, astronomers were added to the staff, and purposeful order was brought out of chaos.
Other astronomical institutions began to give their cooperation; the reduction of the accumulated mass of fourteen years’ crude observations was started; and rapid publication was provided for.
The volumes had begun to appear when Gilliss died, very suddenly, of apoplexy.
Gilliss wad the founder of the United States Naval Observatory. During his four-year tenure as captain, Gilliss reduced the backlog of scientific work that had gone unpublished, encouraged the manufacture of American-made astronomical equipment, and worked closely with other American observatories. His organization also played a crucial role in providing charts and navigation instruments to the rapidly expanding the Union navy.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
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In 1847, Gilliss advocated an expedition to South America to observe Venus and Mars, in cooperation with northern observatories, for the purpose of a new determination of the solar parallax.
Gilliss was a founding member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gilliss had married, in December 1837, Rebecca Roberts, daughter of John Roberts of Alexandria, Virginia.
