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A Follow-up from the Chairman of Knox College's Physics Department |
From: Chuck Schulz Sent: Monday, May 25, 1998 6:11 PM To: 'Lenny Abbey' Subject: RE: Bill Calder's Telescope The tale of the telescope is told in the new book "Science and the Scientists of Knox College" by Geer, Dunn, and Swanson (Knox College, Galesburg, 1997). Following is a quote of the relevant section. The origin of physics at Knox was tied to astronomy. Astronomy was required for the degree for many years after the College began. Milton Comstock, as Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, taught what today would be called physics as well as astronomy. He was an authority on subjects such as sound and gravitation. After Edgar Lucien Larkin became Adjunct Professor of Astronomy in September 1888, Larkin was responsible for teaching astronomy and subsequently physics. Before coming to Knox, Larkin had been a druggist in New Windsor, a small town near Galesburg. He had a self-taught interest in astronomy and built an observatory and purchased a good telescope from Alvan Clark, and Sons, the famous Boston lensmakers. Larkin had lass than a high school education and could not have passed the entrance examinations at Knox, but he became a professor at Knox and later, the director of the Lowe Observatory on Echo Mountain in California. Furthermore, Larkin contributed articles to leading scientific journals, and his observatory communicated with an observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1883 he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.In December of 1887, Larkin proposed to the Board ofTrustees that Knox College build an observatory and that he be hired as instructor in astronomy. The trustees accepted after the faculty voted approval. By mid-September 1888, the telescope was mounted and ready for use. The Observatory was the first entirely academic building constructed since Old Main in 1857. It was the first science building, and the Observatory exceeded anything that had been done previously to provide laboratory experience for the students. (...) Larkin told the Trustees that Knox was behind the times and that he was ready to provide the needed "modern science." He refereed to himself as introducing the "New" Astronomy and the "New" Physics, and even of supplementing Hurd's "regular chemistry" with a "New" Chemistry. Nonetheless, repeated comments in the student magazine suggest that Larkin did not maintain order in his classes, not surprising for an instructor who lacked a high school educaion or experience with classroom forces that affect the relations of a college teacher to his students. Although it is not clear which of the above irritants was the reason,
Larkin was informed early in the summer of 1895 that the next year would be
his last and that meanwhile his salary would be reduced to $500. He felt
unable to accept the reduction in salary, which not only was cut back to
what it was when he started his Knox tenure but also suggested a diminishing importance on the campus. (...) Larkin resigned and left to be
a druggist in Antioch, Illinois. |