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to Jane and Lewis Elkin, one of five children but the only one to survive to adulthood. Following the death of her husband in 1867, Jane travelled abroad for the following seventeen years, taking along
William. As a result of a broad education, he learned to speak fluently in German and French, and
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and later a survey of northern stars. Working with
Frederick L. Chase and Mason Smith, the heliometer was used to undertake a survey which identified 238 parallaxes. These efforts were noted for their particular accuracy, at least for that time period, and elimination of systematic errors by
204:. The two men became fast friends and Gill extended Elkin an invitation to Cape Town. Dr. Elkin sailed for South Africa in December, 1880, arriving in 1881. While at the observatory, Gill and Elkin collaborated to measure
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Williams, Thomas R. (2014). "Elkin, William Lewis". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R.; Bracher, Katherine; Jarrell, Richard A.; II, Jordan D. Marché; Palmeri, JoAnn; Green, Daniel W. E. (eds.).
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Elkin is also recognized as a pioneer of meteor photography and between 1894 and 1910 he captured photographs of around 130 meteor trails. Using two groups of cameras with rotating shutters, an idea first suggested by
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In 1896 he married
Catharine Adams in New Haven. Due to ill health he retired at age 55, but lived until May 30, 1933. During his retirement he pursued music, photography, reading, and car mechanics.
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acquired a basic understanding of
Italian and Spanish. He also received a broad knowledge of music from many nations, and would retain a deep love of music for the remainder of his life.
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171:, graduating in 1876. While at school, however, he gained an interest in astronomy and decided to make that his life's work. After graduation, he spent four years working at the
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known for his detailed work measuring parallaxes and for pioneering work in meteor photography. He served as director of the Yale
University Observatory from 1896 to 1910.
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Catchers of the Light: The
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Hoffleit, Dorrit (1975). "Yale
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A year before Elkin left
Strassburg, he had a meeting with the directory of the
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invited Elkin to become "Astronomer in Charge of the
Heliometer" at the
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The twentieth century biographical dictionary of notable
Americans
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Department of Astronomy, Yale University, Records (RU 274).
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Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
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Biographical Memoir of William Lewis Elkin, 1855–1933
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Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1904).
586:Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
448:"The velocity of meteoroids: a historical review"
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506:. Vol. 3. Boston: The Biographical Society.
139:(April 29, 1855 – May 30, 1933) was an American
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518:"Scientific Notes and News"
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528:(872): 342–345. 1911.
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210:first magnitude stars
293:Honorary Doctorate,
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247:Jonathan Homer Lane
137:William Lewis Elkin
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16:American astronomer
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202:David Gill
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161:dysentery
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575:W. Elkin
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