GUSTAVUS WYNNE COOK, 1867-1940.

Abstract

It has been an outstanding fact that in Great Britain many of the eminent scientists, including several astronomers of great reputation, have been amateurs. In our own country during the past fifty years there have been a few men of culture and wealth who have similarly devoted much or all of their energy to the advancement of science, and astronomy has been particularly fortunate in this respect. Among these the name of Gustavus Wynne Cook should justly be numbered. Born in Philadelphia on December 12, 1867, his varied and eventful life came to a close on June 4, 1940. His father, Richard Y. Cook, had been a successful businessman and banker, and the son, after going to Eastbury Academy and attending some courses at Franklin Institute, followed his footsteps into a business career. In 1895 he married Miss Nannie Munford Bright of Williamsburg, Virginia. Mrs. Cook, two daughters, Mrs. Alfred Putnam and Mrs. L. E. Wright, and four grandchildren survive. His interest in astronomy developed at an early age and was constantly accelerated throughout his life. From his early manhood he owned a telescope which he used on the roof of his home, and later when he moved to Roslyn House in Wynnewood it was, for a time, similarly mounted. Then a permanent building housing an eight-inch refractor was built. This perhaps might be called the founding of the Cook Observatory. However, though his business responsibilities constantly increased, so did his interest in astronomy, and about 1932 the real expansion of his plans entered upon the phase which was to leave the Cook Observatory the best-equipped amateur institution of its kind in America, and indeed one which is surpassed only by a few belonging mostly to the greater universities. It is true that by the time his equipment was approximating the point he desired, his health began to fail so that he was personally unable to do much observing, but instead of using his instruments as playthings with which to amuse himself, as has been done by many others, he secured the services of competent men and regular observing