After graduating, he became the assistant of Benjamin A. Gould. Gould was director of the Longitude Department of the U.S. Coast Survey program, a geodetic survey program. When Gould left to become director of the national observatory in Argentina, Chandler also left and became an actuary. However, he continued to work in astronomy as an amateur affiliated with Harvard College Observatory.
Chandler is best remembered for his research on what is today known as the Chandler wobble. His research on this spanned nearly three decades.
SETHCARLOCHANDLER, JR., is best remembered for his re-search on the variation of latitude (i.e., the complex wobble of the Earth on its axis of rotation, now referred to as polar motion).
Chandler spent many of the most enjoyable hours of his life at the eyepiece of his telescope, which was mounted in a cupola atop the roof of this house.
Chandler was quite aware of this and rather than mounting a new observational program of his own, or waiting for new observations to become available from other sources, he spent much of his energy re-reducing existing data, deriving some remarkable results.
Feeds |
Contact