Simon Newcomb

Born in Wallace, Nova Scotia, on March 12, 1835, he had little formal schooling and was largely educated by his father, a wandering schoolteacher. After an unhappy apprenticeship to a herbalist, he made his way to the United States, studied at Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School, and built a remarkable career through talent, persistence, and an unusual gift for calculation.

He became a leading astronomer and applied mathematician, working with the Nautical Almanac and the United States Naval Observatory, and later teaching at Johns Hopkins University. His research focused on celestial mechanics, planetary and lunar motion, astronomical constants, and timekeeping, and his tables and calculations were widely used by scientists and navigators.

He was also an energetic public writer who believed science should be understandable outside specialist circles. Alongside technical work, he published books for general readers and even a science-fiction novel, showing the same curiosity and range that shaped his scientific career until his death in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 1909.