Thomas Darlington Cope (December 28, 1880 – December 13, 1964) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

of science who published numerous articles concerning the Mason-Dixon survey in America, providing the most thorough record of the scientific accomplishments and historical importance of the survey. From 1939 to 1956, Cope published more than 20 articles on the scientific and boundary survey work of

Charles Mason Charles Mason (April 1728 Jeremiah Dixon Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer who is best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason–Dixon line. Early life and ...

in America, Africa, and Europe. His work appeared in ''Pennsylvania History'', ''Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science'', ''

Scientific Monthly ''The Scientific Monthly'' was a science magazine published from 1915 to 1957. Psychologist James McKeen Cattell, the former publisher and editor of ''The Popular Science Monthly'', was the original founder and editor. In 1958, ''The Scientific Mo ...

'', ''Nature'', ''Sky and Telescope'', ''

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' is a quarterly journal published by the American Philosophical Society since 1838. The journal contains papers which have been read at meetings of the American Philosophical Society each April ...

'', and ''Notes and Records of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London''. Cope tends to focus on the scientific importance of the Mason-Dixon survey as an accomplishment of Enlightenment ingenuity applied to a geographically and politically difficult problem. Cope’s research is thought to serve as a significant source for the historical basis of Thomas Pynchon’s novel ''

Mason & Dixon ''Mason & Dixon'' is a postmodernist novel by American author Thomas Pynchon, published in 1997. It presents a fictionalized account of the collaboration between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in th ...

''. Cope served as Professor of Physics at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

from 1902 to 1952. He earned his A.B. (1903) and Ph.D. (1915) from the University of Pennsylvania and studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

in 1912-13 under

Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...

. His collected notes, held at the library of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in Philadelphia, also include notes on lectures of relativity (1921) by

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

.Catlett, J. Stephen, ed. ''A New Guide to the Collections in the Library of the American Philosophical Society''. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1987. p 59.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cope, Thomas D, 1880 births 1964 deaths