Charles Augustus Young

Charles Augustus Young (December 15, 1834 – January 4, 1908) was an American astronomer, noteworthy as a pioneer of solar spectroscopy. In 1874 he was elected to both the American Philosophical Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Young served as the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for a one year term from 1883 to 1884.

Quotes

... Schwabe’s discovery of the periodicity of the sun-spots in 1851; the development of spectroscopic analysis between 1854 and 1870; the eclipse observations since 1860; the researches of Carrington, Huggins, De La Rue, Lockyer, Janssen, Secchi, Vogel, Langley, and others; the establishment of the solar observatories at Potsdam and Meudon—these are all evidences of the ardor with which astronomers have devoted themselves to the problems of solar science, and of their rich rewards.
- The Sun. Volume 34 of International Scientific Series. American ed. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1881. p. 15. (321 pages)

At the time of its passing and nearest approach, Mars is said to be in “Opposition,” because it is then, like the full moon, opposite to the sun in the sky, rising at sunset and conspicuous all night long. …
We find observations of the planet as far back as 356 b.c. , when on April 4th, as Aristotle records, it was “occulted” by the moon. (The date of this observation was first settled by Kepler.) Other observations in considerable number are quoted by Ptolemy, who himself observed with great care the opposition of the year 130 a.d. at Alexandria.
- (July 1889) "The Planet Mars". The Presbyterian Review 10 (39): 400–414. (quote from p. 401)

By means of Astronomy the latitudes and longitudes of places upon the earth's surface are determined, and by such determinations alone is it possible to conduct vessels upon the sea. Moreover, all the operations of surveying upon a large scale, such as the determination of the boundaries of countries, depend more or less upon astronomical observations. The same is true of operations which, like the railway service, require an accurate knowledge and observance of time; for the fundamental timekeeper is the diurnal revolution of the heavens, as determined by the astronomer's transit-instrument.
- Lessons in Astronomy Including Uranography: A Brief Introductory Course Without Mathematics, for Use in Schools and Seminaries. Boston: Ginn & Company. 1891. p. 1. (357 pages)

In the summer of 1877 Professor Young accepted a call to the professorship of astronomy at Princeton, with the assurance of a fine modern equipment and less time required for the classroom. His special appreciation of instruments and his well-balanced judgment as a teacher contributed to the establishment within a short time of the best astronomical observatory for the purposes of instruction then existing. By 1882 the excellent 23-inch Clark refractor was set up in the Halsted observatory, and provided with a powerful solar spectroscope for his own researches. But in spite of the energy necessarily required for this new construction, Professor Young was active in research as well as writing. In 1878 he conducted a Princeton party to Denver to observe the eclipse of July 29.
- Edwin Brant Frost, (1910) . "Biographical Memoir of Charles Augustus Young 1834-1908". Biographical Memoirs of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences VII: 89–114. (quote from p. 100)