Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
01.C.85 |
Object Name |
Plate, Printing |
Title |
Printing Plate with Portrait of Simon Newcomb |
Artist |
Unknown |
Date |
ca. 1900 |
Description |
Steel engraved plate with a half-length portrait of Simon Newcomb set in a white border. He has wavy, short, light hair and a light colored fully beard. He wears a light suit with a light color cravat. Underneath the portrait, in the white space, is his signature "Simon Newcomb". |
Label |
Simon Newcomb, the first American after Franklin to become a member of the Institut de France, used to say that while astronomy was his vocation, political economy was his avocation. He published in both fields and was well known and well respected, receiving praise from scientists such as Albert Einstein and political economists like John Maynard Keynes. In 1874, he received the Gold Medal of London’s Royal Astronomical Society for his planetary and lunar studies. He was elected to the APS in 1905 and served as Vice-President from 1905 until his death in 1909. An image from this plate was used in a commemorative article in the 1910 edition of the "Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society," number 197. |
Medium |
Engraving |
Dimensions |
H-10.5 W-7.24 inches |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of William Spawn, 1957-58. |
Search Terms |
20th century twentieth century printing scientist astronomy portrait |