Background
Joel Hastings Metcalf was born on January 4, 1866, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Lewis Herbert and Anna (Hicks) Metcalf.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
World Stories
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/World-Stories-Joel-Hastings-Metcalf/dp/1376318962?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1376318962
Joel Hastings Metcalf
Edit ProfileEducation
Metcalf graduated from the Meadville Theological Seminary in 1890, pursued graduate work for a time in the Harvard Divinity School, and continued at Allegheny College, where he obtained the degree of Ph. D. in 1892. He also studied at Oxford University.
Career
For ten years (1893 - 1903), Metcalf served a pastorate at Burlington, Vermont, then went to England. On his return, in much improved health, he assumed the duties of a pastorate in Taunton, Massachusetts. From 1910 to 1920 he was a minister of the Unitarian Society at Winchester, Massachusetts, and from 1920 to the time of his death, of the First Parish, Portland, Maine. Soon after the United States entered the World War, he took service in the Young Men's Christian Association, working by preference at the front, sharing the perils and privations of the soldiers, and distinguishing himself in getting food and supplies to men in exposed positions. He was cited for special courage at Château Thierry and later rendered commendable service during the reconstruction of Rumania. Throughout his life, almost as deep as the interest in men that led him into the ministry was his devotion to astronomy. At the age of twelve, he selected Proctor's Other Worlds than Ours to bring home from the Sunday-school library. An eclipse of the sun about the same time stimulated him to further investigation; he found a lens in an abandoned house and did odd jobs to earn the sixteen dollars needed to pay for materials for mounting. During his pastorate at Burlington he bought a second-hand photographic telescope and dome in New York State and brought it across Lake Champlain in winter on sledges, although the cost of the outfit five hundred dollars was a serious item in the budget of a minister on a small salary, with a wife and two children to support. While he was at Oxford, in addition to attending lectures on philosophy and religion, he became a frequent visitor at the observatory and spent much time on astronomical problems. Metcalf was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an active member of the American Astronomical Society. For many years he was chairman of the Committee to visit the Harvard Observatory, and a member of the Visiting Committee of the Ladd Observatory. He died in his sixtieth year, survived by his wife and two children.
Achievements
-
Metcalf built himself a private observatory at Taunton and both here and at Winchester made many astronomical observations of great value, discovering six comets, forty-one asteroids, and a number of variable stars. His observations are published in Astronomische Nachrichten, Popular Astronomy, and Harvard College Observatory Bulletins. His finest scientific work, however, was in applied optics. He combined in a remarkable degree the abilities to compute the lens curves necessary to perfect performance and the manual dexterity and skill to do the actual grinding. He made the telescope with which he himself observed; a ten-inch telescope and one of sixteen inches aperture of his make are in regular use at the Harvard College Observatory, while a thirteen-inch triplet, started by him shortly before his death and finished by C. A. R. Lundin the younger, was used in January 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in the discovery of the Trans-Neptunian planet.
Works
book
-
World Stories
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
-
World Stories
Membership
a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an active member of the American Astronomical Society, a member of the Visiting Committee of the Ladd Observatory
Personality
Possessing "a wide tolerance side by side with an intense faith, " he "met each man on his own plane and took him at his best".
Connections
In 1891, Metcalf married Elizabeth S. Lochman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
-
Born
-
Died
February 21, 1925 (aged 59) -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Unitarian