Ormond Stone
Ormond Stone (
January 11,
1847 -
January 17,
1933), was an
astronomer,
mathematician and
educator. He was the director of
Cincinnati Observatory and subsequently the first director of the
McCormick Observatory, where he trained a significant number of scientists. He served as the editor of the
Annals of Mathematics and towards the end of his life made donations which led to the founding of the Fairfax Public Library System.
Stone was born in
Pekin, Illinois to
Methodist minister Elijah Stone and Sophia Creighton Stone. While attending Chicago High School, he met
Truman Henry Safford, an astronomer at the recently completed
Dearborn Observatory and Stone became his pupil, quickly beginning his life-long interest in astronomy. In
1866 Stone enrolled at the
University of Chicago, graduating with a degree of
master's degree in
1870. Working his way through school, he served as an instructor in
1867-
1868 at
Racine College in
Wisconsin, then at the Northwestern Female College (which is now a part of
Northwestern University) at
Evanston, Illinois in
1869. Also that year, he participated in what would be the first of three
eclipse expeditions in his lifetime. It was on this trip to
Des Moines, Iowa with Safford that he met astronomers from the
United States Naval Observatory. He would end up being in charge of the later two expeditions, the first in
1878, when he led the USNO expedition to
Colorado, and the
May 28,
1900 eclipse, when he led the
McCormick Observatory expedition to Winesboro,
South Carolina. Upon graduating from the University of Chicago in
1870, he accepted an assistantship at the USNO where he stayed until
1875. He was assigned to the
Meridian Circle, under
William Harkness. His tenure there coincided with the arrival of the 26-inch
Alvan Clark refractor at the Naval Observatory. This telescope was essentially a twin to the future McCormick Refractor. In
1871, he married Catherine Flagler of
Washington, D.C.In
1875, Stone accepted the directorship of the
Cincinnati Observatory, having received a recommendation from
Simon Newcomb. While there, he instituted a program of discovering new southern
double stars and was the first to establish
standard time for an American city, and he pushed for the adoption of
Standard Time Belts (or zones, as we now know them). In
1882, Stone was offered the position of director at the brand new observatory being built at the
University of Virginia, and was accompanied from Cincinnati by John Jones and Frank P. Leavenworth. Stone oversaw the final stages of construction on the Observatory, which was completed for use in
1885, but began astronomical work almost immediately upon his arrival in
Charlottesville. Stone's work focused largely on observing
nebulae, southern variables and double stars.
As director, Stone's responsibilities included fundraising, which he detested and did very poorly. Though the Observatory was always short of funds, he used funds donated by
William Henry Vanderbilt to establish three fellowships, $350 for a year, to pay for assistants at the observatory. The list of Vanderbilt Fellows the worked under Stone was an impressive one and included astronomers, university presidents, professors and professionals in various fields, including:
Francis P. Leavenworth, Director of
Haverford Observatory, Professor of Astronomy at the
University of Minnesota;
Harry Y. Benedict, Tenth President of the
University of Texas at Austin;
Edgar O. Lovett, first President of Rice Institute (now
Rice University);
Heber Doust Curtis, director of
Lick Observatory and
Allegheny Observatory;
James Park McCallie, founder of the
McCallie School;
George F. Paddock, Assistant Astronomer at
Lick Observatory;
Charles P. Olivier, Director of
Flower and Cook Observatory and Chair of the Astronomy Department,
University of Pennsylvania;
Herbert R. Morgan, astronomer at the
United States Naval Observatory; and
Ralph E. Wilson, astronomer at
Dudley Observatory and
Mount Wilson Observatory.
Stone remained at the McCormick Observatory until
1912. In his time there, he taught various astronomy courses for the University, founded the
Annals of Mathematics in
1884, funded the publication with his own money, and edited the journal until
1899 (after which he served on the editorial board), founded the Philosophical Society at UVA and spent much of the final ten years of his directorship in the cause for secondary education in Virginia. He was a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (Member:
1875; Fellow:
1876; Chair, Committee on Standard Time:
1880; Member of Committee on Stellar Magnitudes: 1880; Vice-President, Astronomy and Mathematics:
1887; Vice-President of Section A: Astrometry, of Department 11: Astronomy:
1888; Chair:
1901 Councilor, Section A, Mathematics and Astronomy:
1902-
1905; Sectional Committee, Section A:
1905-
1907; Emeritus Life Member:
1927), the American Astronomical and Astrophysical Society, now known as the American Astronomical Society (Councilor
1899-
1909), and the American Mathematical Society (Councilor
1897), among many other academic societies. He served on the Board of Visitors (as Secretary) for the United States Naval Observatory from
1901 to
1903, served on the first Advisory Committee on Mathematics for the
Carnegie Institution of Washington starting in
1902, and was a trustee of Harrisonburg Normal College (now
James Madison University). He also maintained contacts with people of influence across the country, including his brother
Melville E. Stone, the founder of the
Chicago Daily News, who became well known as the General Manager of
Associated Press.
He retired on a stipend from the Carnegie Foundation in
1912 to a 30-acre farm in
Centreville, Virginia. His wife died in
1914 and he later married Mary Florence Brennan of
Lansing, Michigan. He brought Mary back to Centreville along with her two sisters Grace and Elizabeth. He continued to be active in the educational, religious and social problems of his local community and the state.
He served as Vice President of the Virginia State Teachers' Association, and was a leader in the movement to improve Virginia's public school system (in 1991, a Ormond Stone Middle School was opened in
Fairfax County to honor his work).
In November
1929, Professor Stone and his friend, lawyer Thomas Keith approached the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to request space to begin a library. The County provided no funds, but a small space in an old office in the courthouse and it was the first step in the eventual establishment of the Fairfax County Public Library System. Stone spent much of his last years gathering and organizing donated books for this small library. He was tragically killed just six days after his eighty-sixth birthday when he was struck and instantly killed by a C&P Telephone Company vehicle while he was walking along the road near his farm in in
Centreville, Virginia. He was remembered by friends as a man of strong character, a distinguished scientist, and a faithful Christian gentleman.
