Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in the world by JSTOR. Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial purposes. Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early- journal-content. JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. PUBLICATIONS OF THE AstronomicalSociety of the Pacific. Vol. XXI. San Francisco, California, April 10, 1909. No. 125 ADDRESS OF THE RETIRING PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY, IN AWARDING THE BRUCE MEDAL TO DR. GEORGE WILLIAM HILL. By Charles Burckhalter. The eighthaward of the BruceGold Medal of thisSociety has beenmade to Dr. GeorgeWilliam Hill. To thosehaving understanding of the statutes,and the methodgoverning the bestowal of the medal,it goes without sayingthat it is always worthilybestowed. The statutes requirethat, for each medalawarded, eminent astronomers, - thedirectors of six of thegreatest observatories in theworld, - shallbe askedeach to nominatethree astronomers worthy to receivethe BruceMedal "fordistinguished services to astron- omy." The six observatorieshave always been Harvard, Lick,and Yerkesin thiscountry, and Berlin,Greenwich and Paris in the Old World. From the nominationsthus made theDirectors of thisSociety, by ballot,choose the Medalist. The listof namesof thosewhom we havethus honored, and in honoringthem we havehonored the Society, is an inspiring one- all householdnames in astronomy.The firstaward was to Simon Newcomb,a nativeof Nova Scotia; the secondto Arthur Auwers, a German;the thirdto Sir David Gill, an Englishman;the fourthto Giovanni Virginio Schiapa- relli, an Italian; the fifthto Sir William Huggins, an Englishman; the sixthto anotherGerman, Hermann Carl Vogel ; theseventh to Edward C. Pickering,the first native- bornAmerican to receivethe medal; and the eighthto our presentmedalist, also an American. The Bruce Medal, like astronomy,knows nothing of boundaries. 52 Publications of the In a paper in the Popular Science Monthlyfor October, 1908,Professor Pickering calls attention to thefact that there are onlysix Americanswho are membersof three or more of the sevenleading National Scientific Societies (England, France,United States, Russia, Germany, Austria and Italy) and of thesesix, threeare astronomers;and I wish to add, of thethree astronomers our medalistis one. ProfessorPick- ering also pointsout thatevery living Bruce Medalist belongs to threeor moreof thesesocieties. Althoughthis is butthe eighth award of themedal, so great is thecare takenin its bestowal,and withsuch wisdom have theselections been made, that the Bruce Gold Medal is already recognizedas one of thegreatest honors that can be conferred uponan astronomer. The statutesfor the bestowalof the Bruce Medal require thePresident of theSociety at thismeeting to "Announcethe awardand thereasons for making it." Let me heresay that no adequatereview of Dr. Hill's workcan be comprisedin thisaddress ; in his "CollectedMathematical Works" there are eighty-fourmemoirs, every one of whichshows the master mind. And I wishat once,frankly, to confessmy inability to give an opinionof thevalue of Dr. Hill's servicesto astron- omy,and in this,your President feels that he is butone of a large company. Only specialistsin celestialmechanics are competentto appreciateand appraisethe utilityand impor- tanceof his monumentalachievements; the opinionsof those intellectualgiants who are his colaborers,alone can reflectto us a trueestimate of theirvalue. ProfessorNewcomb in his "Reminiscencesof an Astrono- mer"says of Dr. Hill that"he willeasily rank as thegreatest masterof mathematicalastronomy during the last quarterof thenineteenth century." Wedded to his chosenfield of labor, he worked,year afteryear, scarcelyknown to the public, patient,underpaid, his abilityappreciated by only a few of his colleagues,but contentthat he .couldadvance his beloved science. Speakingof thistime, Newcomb says of him: "Here was perhapsthe greatest living master in thehighest and most difficultfield of astronomy,winning world-wide recognition for his countryin thescience and receivingthe salary of a depart- mentclerk." AstronomicalSociety of the Pacific. 53 The list of honors conferredupon our medalist by institu- tions of learning in this and foreigncountries is a long one, among whichI may mentionthe Damoiseau prize,of the Paris academy,the degreeof Doctor of Laws, by CambridgeUniver- sity,England, and the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. Our own recognitionis, of necessity,somewhat tardy, forhe has been nominatedagain and again by eminentastron- omers,for the honorof the Bruce Medal. I have said that only an expert can rightfullyweigh such work as that of our medalist. Such an one is Mr. Henri PoiNCARÉ,who has written,in French,an introductionto the "Collected Mathematical Works of George William Hill." From this, the followingabstract has been prepared by Dr. R. G. Aitken, of the Lick Observatory:- "Dr. Hill," says Poincaré, "is one of the most original figuresin the American scientificworld. Throughout all his works and his calculationshe has remaineda strangerto the feverishlife that has troubledothers; he has conducted his researchesin isolation,formerly in the bureau of the Nautical Almanac,more recentlyat his quiet home in the Hudson Val- ley. This reserve,I was about to say this shyness,has been a happy circumstancefor science,for it has permittedhim to carry his ingeniousand patientresearches to their conclusion withoutsuffering distractions from the constantaccidents of the world outside." Dr. Hill was born in New York, March 3, 1838. His father,an Englishman,came to America in 1820 at the age of eight; his mother,of an old Huguenot family,transmitted to him the traditionsof the earliest colonists of America. He passed his infancyat the farmat West Nyack, about twenty- five miles from New York, which his fatherbought shortly after Hill's birth. "He always loved his home, he returnedto it as often as he could, and when he resigned from the Nautical Almanac Officehe made his permanenthome there,and therehe pursues his studies in tranquility,avoiding, as far as possible, even journeysto New York." At the age of seventeenhe enteredRutger's college, New Brunswick,New Jersey,where his professorin mathematics 54 Publications of the was Dr. Strong, a friendof Bowditch, the translatorof "Laplace's MécaniqueCéleste." "Dr. Strong was a manof traditions,one who praisedthe bygonetimes; forhim Euler was the god of mathematics, and afterEuler, decadencebegan ; it is truethat this is a god one may worshipwith profit. With rare exceptionsDr. Strong'slibrary was pitilesslyclosed against all booksof later datethan 1840. Happily,excellent works on celestialmechan- ics werewritten prior to 1840,for example, those of Laplace, Lagrange, Poisson, and Pontécoulant. These were the mastersby whom Hill was introducedto therudiments of the science." Receivinghis degreein 1859 he wentto Harvardto con- tinuehis mathematical studies, but in thespring of 1861joined the NauticalAlmanac staff and spentthe next thirtyyears of his lifein thatservice. Those werethe most fruitful years in pointof scientificproductions. At thistime the Nautical AlmanacOffice was at Cambridge,Mass., under the direction of ProfessorRunkle, the founderof the Mathematical Monthly,in whichprizes were proposedfor the solutionof mathematicalproblems. "One of the firstarticles published," says PoiNCARÉ,"revealed the hand of a masterand easily gainedthe prize. It dealtwith the functionsof Laplace and thefigure of the Earth. The authorwas Mr. Hill, who was just aboutto leavecollege." Hill continuedto make manycontributions on various mathematicalsubjects, generally, however, connected in some way withcelestial mechanics, to the MathematicalMonthly, and to theAnalyst and similarjournals. Whilethe NauticalAlmanac Office remained in Cambridge underRunkle, Hill's workfor it was done at his homein West Nyack. But,in 1877,when New comb assumed charge, "he wishedto undertakea colossaltask, the reconstructionof thetables of all theplanets ; Mr. Hill's partin thistask was themost difficult ; it was thetheory of Jupiterand Saturn, with whichhe beganto busyhimself about 1872." He could not wellcarry on thiswork away from his chief and his colleagues, so was obligedto leave his home,a sacrificereadily made in view of the importanceof the work. But he returnedto his homewhen the bureauwas movedto Washington. AstronomicalSociety of the Pacific. 55 In 1892 he resignedfrom the NauticalAlmanac. For a shorttime thereafter he helda professorshipin ColumbiaUni- versity,but he did notcontinue in thisposition long, and since then"has livedalone with his booksand