Records of Harvard College Observatory Director William Cranch Bond

In 1839, the Harvard Corporation appointed William Cranch Bond the first Astronomical Observer to the University, thereby taking the first step in establishing the Harvard College Observatory, after which the first telescope was installed in 1847. Scholars and students had studied astronomy at Harvard since the seventeenth century, but it wasn’t until a large comet sparked public interest in 1843 that donors began donating funds to build an observatory. During the tenure of the Harvard College Observatory’s first three directors, William Cranch Bond (1839-1859), George Phillips Bond (1859-1865), and Joseph Winlock (1866-1875), much of the Observatory’s research focused on lunar photography and chronometric activities to establish American longitude and to operate a time service for the United States government and commercial interests. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, under the direction of Edward C. Pickering (1877-1919), research shifted from celestial mechanics and positional astronomy to astrophysics. The Observatory developed into a major research institution, focusing on photographic star surveys, spectroscopic analysis, and culminating in publication of the Henry Draper Catalogue, with spectroscopic classifications for 225,300 stars. During Pickering’s tenure, many women astronomers, including Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, and Williamina Fleming performed essential research at the Observatory.

During the next several years, the Observatory became an important center for astronomical training and research, and building relationships with other institutions. Harlow Shapley, director from 1921 to 1952, inaugurated a program of graduate study in astronomy. Mandating that public education be a part of the Observatory’s mission, Shapley required students in the Harvard program to present lectures on astronomy to public school children. Donald H. Menzel (1952-1966) arranged a cooperative relationship with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (founded in 1890) and its relocation to Cambridge in 1955. Financial support for the Observatory expanded under Leo Goldberg (1966-1970), and in 1973 George B. Field (1972-1983) created an administrative umbrella organization, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to coordinate the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory’s programs. Today, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics continues studies in astronomy, astrophysics, earth and space sciences, and science education, while the Harvard College Observatory supports Harvard’s Department of Astronomy.

William Cranch Bond (1789-1859), American astronomer and instrument maker, was the first director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1839 to 1859. Bond undertook extensive studies of the Orion Nebula and Saturn, and in 1848 discovered Hyperion in collaboration with his son George Phillips Bond (1825-1865). Pioneers in the application of photography to astronomy, the Bonds made the first recognizable daguerreotype of the Moon and the star Vega in 1850. In that same year, they also discovered the first dark inner ring of Saturn (the Crepe Ring). The Bonds produced the first recognizable photographic print of the Moon in 1857.

The Bond family migrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1790. Bond’s father William (died 1848) was a clockmaker and established William Bond and Son. The firm was a maker of scientific instruments, particularly chronometers. Business was slow, and Bond needed to leave public school at an early age to help his struggling family. Although spending most of his time working with his father, Bond found time to study and further his education. At an early age, he demonstrated a mechanical ability, making toys and other unique items of interest for children. Likewise, in 1804, from directions he found in an old French textbook, Bond made his first chronometer. Bond continued his work improving chronometers so that by 1812 they were regularly used on Boston merchant ships. After viewing a total eclipse of the sun in 1806, Bond became fascinated with astronomy. Creating a sundial with pieces of string, Bond plotted the stars and comets. Subsequently, he independently discovered the Great Comet of 1811 and began his practice of recording astronomical phenomena. Bond traced the courses of comets, collected lunar culminations, occultations, and eclipses of the sun, and determined the longitudinal position of his observatory and home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Similarly, during his travels in New England, Bond took a sextant and a chronometer with him to plot the latitudes and longitudes of the places he visited. Bond also took an active interest in meteorology and magnetism. Between 1825 and 1830, Bond increasingly improved the accuracy of his chronometers, and in 1838 he received a contract from the United States Navy to make longitudinal and other measurements during its exploratory expeditions from 1838 to 1842.

The establishment of an observatory at Harvard University was fostered by astronomical discoveries taking place in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including the detection of Uranus in 1791, and observations of satellites, minor planets, and brilliantly lit comets. In 1815, the Harvard Corporation established a committee to purchase astronomical instruments and to erect an observatory building. Bond was about to travel to Europe at the time and was asked by the chairman of the committee, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy John Farrar (1779-1853) to study the Greenwich Observatory in England and to draft plans and estimates for the building of an observatory at Harvard. Although Bond carried out his instructions, the project failed due to lack of funds. The plans for the observatory remained dormant until 1839 when Harvard president Josiah Quincy, persuaded Bond to move his astronomical instruments to Dana House and become the first Astronomical Observer to Harvard University. Working without pay for the next five years, Bond remained at Dana House making what were in large part meteorological and magnetic observations. However, using the limited equipment available, Bond also observed occultations, eclipses, and comets; in addition to continuing his work as a clockmaker; and carrying out his duties to the United States Navy. Bond also began planning the construction of a new Harvard observatory and the addition of new equipment.

A new period began at the Harvard College Observatory with the mounting of The Great Refractor, a 15-inch telescope in 1847. For twenty years it was the largest telescope in the United States and the centerpiece of the Observatory, and with it, Bond began a series of astronomical observations of comets, planets, stars and other celestial objects. The results Bond achieved led to his election in 1849 as the first American Foreign Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1848 Bond undertook extensive studies of the Orion Nebula and Saturn, and that year he discovered Hyperion in collaboration with his son, George Phillips Bond (1825-1865). Working with John Adams Whipple (1822-1891), an American inventor and early photographer, the Bonds pioneered astrophotography, taking a daguerreotype image of the star Vega in 1850; the first ever taken from America. That same year the Bonds discovered the dark inner ring of Saturn (the Crepe Ring). In 1857, the Bonds made the first recognizable photographic print of the Moon. Meanwhile, moon culminations and star transits were completed by the Harvard College Observatory for the United States Coast Survey and United States Army Topographical Engineers to assist in the establishment of national boundaries and map coastal byways. Regular detailed examinations of the surface markings of the sun and planets, and views of comets, clusters of stars, and nebulae took place at the Observatory. Additionally, Bond improved the chronograph for the automatic recording of star transits to assist in navigation and the establishment of precise geographical positions; developed electric-telegraphic methods for longitude work, and established a service for telegraphing time signals to New England from the Harvard College Observatory. After Bond died on January 29, 1859, his son George Phillips Bond succeeded him as director.

William Cranch Bond married his first wife Selina Cranch (1798-1831) on July 18, 1819. Selina was the mother of his six children: William Cranch Jr. (1821-1841), Joseph Cranch (1823-1860), George Phillips (1825-1865), Richard Field (1827-1866), Elizabeth Lidstone (1829-1851), and Selina Cranch (1831-1920). After Selina died in 1831, Bond married her elder sister, Mary Roope Cranch Bond (1767-1860) on December 16, 1832.