Bailey, Solon I.

Solon Irving Bailey (1854-1931), Phillips Professor of Astronomy at Harvard, spent forty four years with the Harvard College Observatory. Bailey was largely responsible for the successful establishment of Harvard's Boyden Station observatory in Arequipa, Peru. Bailey's pioneering photographic studies of globular clusters, variable stars, nebulae, and galactic clusters provided the basis from which other astronomers were able to determine the size of the Milky Way and other galaxies.

From the description of Papers of Solon Irving Bailey, 1889-1925, 1931. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 249206843

Bailey (Harvard, A.M., 1888) taught astronomy at Harvard.

From the description of Papers of Solon Irving Bailey, 1889-1919 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 76972761

Solon Irving Bailey (1854-1931), Phillips Professor of Astronomy at Harvard, spent forty four years with the Harvard College Observatory. Bailey was largely responsible for the successful establishment of Harvard’s Boyden Station observatory in Arequipa, Peru. Bailey’s pioneering photographic studies of globular clusters, variable stars, nebulae, and galactic clusters provided the basis from which other astronomers were able to determine the size of the Milky Way and other galaxies.

Bailey was born and raised in New Hampshire. After graduating from Tilton Academy in 1877, where he later served briefly as headmaster, he received a bachelor’s degree (1881) and master’s degree (1884) from Boston University.

Bailey joined the staff of the Harvard College Observatory as a volunteer in 1887. In 1889, HCO Director Edward C. Pickering sent him to South America to find a suitable site for a telescope to extend Harvard’s astronomical observations to the southern hemisphere. Bailey traveled in Peru for two years, selecting Arequipa as the site of the Boyden Station observatory, where he served as director until 1905. He also established a series of meteorological stations, culminating in 1893 with the establishment of a weather station near the peak of El Misti, a volcano overlooking the city of Arequipa.

In 1908, after severe weather rendered observations at Arequipa increasingly difficult, Bailey traveled to South Africa to explore new locations for the Boyden Station. He eventually recommended a site near Bloemfontein, although a lack of funds delayed the move until 1927.

Bailey made his final trip to Peru in 1922, where he received an honorary degree from the University of San Agustin in Arequipa. When he returned to Cambridge, he resumed work on his astronomical research and wrote the History and Work of the Harvard College Observatory 1839-1927, which was published shortly before his death in 1931.

• 1854 December 9: Solon Irving Bailey is born at Lisbon, New Hampshire.
• 1859: Bailey family moves from Lisbon to Concord, New Hampshire.
• 1877: Bailey graduates from Tilton Academy.
• 1881: Earns A.B. from Boston University.
• 1883: Bailey marries Ruth E. Poulter of Concord, New Hampshire.
• 1884: Earns A.M. from Boston University. Bailey is headmaster of Tilton Academy. Bailey's son, Irving Widmer Bailey, is born.
• 1887: Bailey comes to the Harvard College Observatory as a volunteer assistant. University appointments:Assistant in Astronomy 1891-1892 Assistant Professor 1893-1898 Associate Professor 1898-1912 Phillips Professor 1912-1925 Acting Director 1919-1921 Phillips Professor Emeritus 1925-1931
• 1888: Receives A.M. from Harvard University.
• 1889 January 1: Bailey takes part in the total eclipse expedition to Willows, California.
• 1889 - 1891 : Bailey chooses Arequipa, Peru (altitude 8000 feet) as the site for the construction of a permanent station for the Harvard College Observatory; officially known as Boyden Station.
• 1893: Bailey establishes a meteorological station on the summit of El Misti at an elevation of 19,000 feet; at the time the highest station in the world.
• 1894: Bailey establishes meteorological stations in Cuzco and Santa Ana completing a chain of stations across the Andes.
• 1902: Working from Arequipa, Bailey discovers minor planet 504 Cora, also called 1902 LK.
• 1903: Bailey makes an expedition around and across Lake Titicaca, visiting the ruins at Tiaguanaco.
• 1904: Bailey travels across the Andes to the plain of the Upper Amazon.
• 1908 - 1909 : Bailey investigates meteorological conditions in South Africa; his studies were the basis upon which many observatories selected sites for South African stations.
• 1923: Bailey receives an honorary Doctor of Science degree and the title of Professor of Astronomy from the University of San Agustin in Arequipa, Peru.
• 1927: Boyden Station transferred to Mazelspoort, fourteen miles from Bloemfontein, South Africa, at an elevation of about 4,500 feet.
• 1931: Bailey's History and Work of the Harvard Observatory 1839-1927 is published.
• 1931 June 5: Solon Irving Bailey dies at Norwell, Massachusetts.

From the guide to the Papers of Solon Irving Bailey, 1889-1925, 1931., (Harvard University Archives)