Davis, Herman Stearns, 1868-1933

Herman Stearns Davis, an astronomer, was born August 6, 1868, in Milford, DE. Davis graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1892 and received his A.M degree (1894) and Ph.D.(1895) from Columbia University. From 1895-1899, Davis served as a professor of astronomy and geodessy at Columbia. In 1900 he became assistant at the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and went on to serve as director of the International Latitude Observatory in Gaithersburg, MD until 1905. Davis then served as construction engineer and auditor for the cities of Pittsburgh and New York until 1910. From 1910 until 1920, he was the secretary to the President of Gulf Refining Co. in Pittsburgh and served as astronomer of the Carnegie Institution. The majority of Davis' research was for the New Reduction of Piazzi's Star Catalog which he began in 1895. He also authored Glossary to Homer's Illiad in 1888, Parallax of Eta Cassiopeia in 1895, Catalogue of 62 Stars about Eta Cassiopeia in 1895, Computation Forms for the Use of Classes in Practical Astronomy in 1897, An Abbreviated Form of Least Square Solutions in 1898, Private Cipher-Book in 1911 and the Dictionary of Telegraphic Code-Words in 1912. Davis died in Pittsburgh on May 23, 1933.

From the description of Papers of Herman Stearns Davis, 1893-1932. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 30457441

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