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Townley (Sidney Dean) Papers
SC0273
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Sidney Dean Townley papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC0273
Physical Description:
8 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): circa 1827-1939
Summary: Personal and
professional correspondence, manuscripts, research notes including astronomical observations
and geological measurements, articles, lectures, personal diaries, family genealogy, and a
collection of family photographs including glass plate negatives and a glass plate negative
format camera.
Language of Material:
Undetermined .
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Astronomer. Studied at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California, and at the
Universities of Berlin and Munich. Before becoming a Professor of Applied Mathematics at
Stanford Unviersiy in 1907, Townley taught at U.C. Berkeley and was Astronomer at the
International Latitude Observatory in Ukiah, California. He became Professor Emeritus of
Astronomy and Geodesy at Stanford in 1932. In addition to practical astronomy, his research
interests included asteroids, comets and variable stars, latitude measurements, and
seismology.
Personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts, research notes including
astronomical observations and geological measurements, articles, lectures, personal diaries,
family genealogy, and a collection of family photographs including glass plate negatives and
a glass plate negative format camera.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Diaries.
Photoprints.
Geodesy.
Glass plate negatives.
Social history -- 19th century.
Astronomy.
Social history -- 20th century.
Seismology.
Latitude variation.