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MITCHEL, ORMSBY MACKNIGHT (1809—1862)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 617 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MITCHEL, ORMSBY MACKNIGHT (1809—1862) , See also:American astronomer, was See also:born at Morganfield, See also:Kentucky, on the 28th of See also:July, 18o9. He began See also:life as a clerk, but, obtaining an See also:appointment to a cadetship at See also:West Point in 1825, he graduated there in 1829, and acted as assistant See also:professor of See also:mathematics 1829—1832. He was then called to the See also:bar, but in 1836 became professor of mathematics and natural See also:philosophy at See also:Cincinnati See also:College. In 1845 he was made director of an See also:observatory established there through his initiative, and also in 1859 See also:superintendent of the See also:Dudley observatory at See also:Albany. In 1861 he took See also:part in the See also:war as brigadier-See also:general of See also:volunteers, and for his skill in seizing certain important strategic points was on the 11th of See also:April 1862 made See also:major-general. He died of yellow See also:fever at See also:Beaufort, See also:South Carolina, on the 3oth of See also:October 1862. He founded the Sidereal Messenger in 1846, was one of the first to adopt (in 1848) the See also:electrical method of recording observations, and published besides other See also:works, The Orbs of See also:Heaven (1848, &c.), and Popular See also:Astronomy (186o), both reissued at See also:London in 1892. See Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel; a See also:Biographical Narrative, by his son, F. A. Mitchel (1887); P. C. Headley, The Patriot Boy (1865); Amer.

See also:

Journal of See also:Science, See also:xxiv. 451 (1862); See also:Month. Notices See also:Roy. Astr. Society, See also:xxiii. 133, See also:xxxvii. 121 (C. See also:Abbe) ; Astr. Nach., No. 1401 (G. W. Hough).

End of Article: MITCHEL, ORMSBY MACKNIGHT (1809—1862)

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