ROGERS, William Augustus, American 'astronomer b. Waterford, Conn., 13 Nov. 1832; d. Waterville, Me., 1 March 1898. He was graduated from Brown University in 1857, en gaged in teaching at Alfred University and in 1858 accepted its chair of mathematics and astronomy. In 1864-65 he served in the United States navy and in 1866-67 studied at Yale, but resumed his duties at Alfred after each inter ruption and under his direction the observatory there was built and equipped. He was ap pointed assistant at the Harvard Observatory in 1870 and became assistant professor of astron omy in 1877. He accepted the chair of as tronomy and physics at Colby University in 1886 and remained there until his death. His work at Harvard Observatory consisted of ob serving and mapping all the stars down to the ninth magnitude, in a narrow belt a trifle north of our zenith, a task which consumed 11 years in observations and 15 years for their reduc tions. He overcame the difficulty of finding
micrometer spiderwebs suitable for his, work by etching glass plates with hydrofluoric acid, an expedient which proved so successful that he furnished the government with the plates used by the expedition to observe the transit of ,Venus. He was an acicnowledged authority in the nsicrometrical field and established stand ards of measurement for practical mechanical work. He was an active member of various scientific societies and published nearly 70 papers concerning his specialties. He also pub lished, in the (Annals of Harva-d Observatory,' (Observations Made with Meridian Circle, 1871 ; (Catalogue of 8,627 Stars between 49° 50' and 50° 10' of North Declination, 1879 ; (Jour nal of Zone Observations During the Years 1875-1833,' etc.