SIDNEY DEAN TOWNLEY, 1867-1946

Abstract

The most recent loss to the rapidly thinning ranks of astronomers who received their early training in the days when practically all observational work was done visually has come through the death, on March 18, 1946, of Sidney Dean Townley, professor of astronomy and geodesy, emeritus, of Stanford University. Though he was nearing the end of his seventy-ninth year, and had been more or less an invalid for several years, he looked so well and was so alert, mentally, that his death was totally unexpected, and brought a shock as well as deep sorrow to all his many friends. Born on April '0, 1867, in the small town of Waukesha, Wisconsin, some sixty miles from Madison, the seventh and youngest child of the Rev. Robert and Mary Wilkinson Townley, young Sidney was reared in an atmosphere of plain living and high thinking, and, let me add, of hard work. The schools at Waukesha, fortunately, were good, and the boy made a good record at them, especially in mathematics, so that when he had completed the studies that correspond to a modern high-school course, he readily found a responsible place as clerk in the town bank at the princely salary (if I may call it so) of $10.00 a month! This was raised to $15.00 after six months' service, sufficient evidence of his efficiency. His leisure hours, during the fifteen months of his work at the bank, he spent in various jobs and sports, in which baseball, hunting, and digging potatoes figured largely. Then, in 1886, he entered the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, taking a general science course. Townley spent six joyous years at Madison. He made an excellent scholastic record, his work in mathematics being outstanding. But he found time as well to take a leading part in many of the general student activities. He was president of his class for a year, president of his literary society, one of the editors of the college paper and of the Junior Annual, and took part in sports, baseball in particular, both as a player on the University nine, and as manager of the team.