Amasa Holcomb | |
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| Born | (1787-06-18)June 18, 1787 |
| Died | March 1875 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | American |
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| Parent(s) | Elijah Holcomb Junior, d. 1841 Lucy Holcomb, b. 1767 d. 1800 |
| Relatives | Paternal grandparents: Elijah Holcomb and Violet Cornish Maternal grandparents: Silas Holcomb and Mary Post |
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Amasa Holcomb (1787–1875) was an American farmer, surveyor, civil engineer, businessman, politician, and manufacturer of surveying instruments and telescopes. From instruments he made he observed the totalsolar eclipse of June 16, 1806. He made astronomical computations from his observations and published almanacs for the partial solar eclipses of 1807 and 1808 from his work. An asteroid,45512 Holcomb, was named after him.
Holcomb was born on June 18, 1787.[1] Holcomb grew up in a town with three names in two states as a young child, but he never changed his residence due to border disputes and resolutions.[1][a] The town kept this name until 1804 when the boundary between the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts was placed further south, and his birth town became known asSouthwick, Massachusetts, where he grew up.[1]
Holcomb was Elijah Holcomb Jr. and Lucy Holcomb and a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Holcomb. Hispaternal grandfather, also named Elijah, was the son ofNathaniel Holcomb III. Holcomb'smaternal grandfather was Silas Holcomb, son ofJudah Holcomb I and grandson of Nathaniel Holcomb II. This grandfather married Mary Post; a daughter born in 1767 was Lucy Holcomb, Holcomb's mother.[1]
Holcomb studied from books that had been owned by his uncle Abijah, who was lost at sea.[3]
Holcomb built a telescope in 1806 and could observe the totalsolar eclipse of June 16, 1806. He made astronomical computations in the four minutes he could see the stars during the eclipse. He published an almanac for 1807 and 1808 from his computations.[3]
Asteroid45512 Holcomb, discovered by astronomers with theCatalina Sky Survey in 2000, was named after him.[4]The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on November 8, 2019 (M.P.C. 118220).[5]
The firstreflecting telescope Holcomb made to order was for John A. Fulton ofChillicothe, Ohio, in about 1826. It was fourteen feet (4.3 m) long with a ten-inch (254 mm) aperture and six eye pieces and a magnification from 90 to 960 times. He fabricated and manufactured telescopes in earnest soon after, probably around 1826.[6]
In 1830, Holcomb took anachromatic telescope to ProfessorBenjamin Silliman atYale University inNew Haven. After inspecting it, the professor ordered one for the university and published an article about it in theAmerican Journal of Science.[6]
In 1834, on the recommendation of The Franklin Institute, theCity of Philadelphia awarded him the John Scott Award.[7]
Holcomb's descendants donated two telescopes manufactured by Holcomb to theSmithsonian in 1933. Until then, they had been in the family at Southwick, Massachusetts.[citation needed] These were,
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