Robert Simpson Woodward (July 21, 1849 – June 29, 1924) was an American
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
,
physicist and
mathematician.
Biography
He was born at
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
,
Michigan on July 21, 1849, to Lysander Woodward and Peninah A. Simpson.
[Woodward, Robert Simpson]
in '' Who's Who in America'' (1901-1902 edition), via archive.org
He graduated with a degree in
civil engineering at the
University of Michigan in 1872. He was appointed assistant
engineer on the
United States Lake Survey
The United States Lake Survey (USLS) was a hydrographic survey for the Great Lakes, New York Barge Canal, Lake Champlain and the Boundary Waters of the Canada–United States border between Minnesota and Ontario. The Survey's activities began on ...
. In 1882 he became assistant
astronomer for the United States
Transit of Venus Commission. In 1884 he became astronomer to the
United States Geological Survey, serving until 1890, when he was hired by
Thomas Corwin Mendenhall as assistant in the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. In 1893 he was called to
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
as
professor of
mechanics and subsequently became professor of
mathematical physics as well. He was
dean of the
faculty
Faculty may refer to:
* Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage)
* Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States)
* Faculty (instrument)
A faculty is a legal in ...
of
pure science at Columbia from 1895 to 1905, when he became president of the
Carnegie Institution of
Washington, whose reputation and usefulness as a means of furthering scientific research was widely extended under his direction. He was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1896. In 1898-1900 he was president of the
American Mathematical Society, and in 1900 he became
President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1902, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society.
In 1915 he was appointed to the
Naval Consulting Board.
He died on June 29, 1924 in
Washington, D.C.
Legacy
Professor Woodward carried on researches and published papers in many departments of
astronomy,
geodesy
Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...
, and
mechanics. In the course of his work with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey he devised and constructed the "iced bar and long tape base apparatus," which enables a
base line to be measured with greater accuracy and with less expense than by methods previously employed. His work on the composition and structure of the earth and the variation of latitude found expression in a number of valuable papers.
Publications
*
Geographical Tables' (1897; third edition, 1906)
*
Probability and Theory of Errors' (1906).
See also
*
Robert Simpson Woodward House
The Robert Simpson Woodward House is a former residence located at 1513 16th Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. From 1904 until 1914, it was a home of geologist Robert Simpson Woodward (1849–1924), the first pres ...
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Robert Simpson
American science writers
American civil engineers
American astronomers
1849 births
1924 deaths
University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni
19th-century American mathematicians
20th-century American mathematicians
People from Rochester, Michigan
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel
Presidents of the American Mathematical Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Naval Consulting Board
Members of the American Philosophical Society