Professor Asaph Hall, one of America's greatest astronomers, departed this life at Annapolis, Maryland, on November 2 2 , 1907.
Asaph Hall was born at Goshen, Connecticut, on October 15, 1829. When he was but thirteen years of age his mother was left a widow with six children of whom Asaph was the oldest. For the next three years he worked on the farm left by his father and then apprenticed himself to a local carpenter. For nine years he worked at this trade, attending-school during the winter as opportunity offered. During this period he determined to become an architect and devoted his spare time to the study of algebra and six books of geometry.
He spent a year and a half at a college at McGrawville, New York, was married to Angeline Stickney on March 31, 1856, studied mathematics and astronomy for six months at the University of Michigan under Professor Briinnow, had charge of an academy at Shalersville, Ohio, for a year, and in the fall of 1857 became an assistant at the Harvard College Observatory under Professor Bond at three dollars a week.
Hall soon became a rapid, accurate, and skillful computer and remained at Harvard College Observatory until 1862, during which time his salary was gradually increased to six hundred dollars a year.