William cranch bond biography of william

American astronomer (1789–1859)

This article is about an American astronomer.

For the U.S. Representative from Ohio, see William K. Bond.

William Cranch Bond (September 9, 1789 – January 29, 1859) was an American astronomer, and the first director of Harvard College Observatory.

William Cranch Bond was an American astronomer who, with his son George Phillips Bond (–65), discovered Hyperion, the eighth satellite of Saturn.

A skilled amateur astronomer: the first US observer to sight the faint, white blur that swelled into the Great Comet of , a feat that led to his Harvard.

William Cranch Bond (September 9, – January 29, ) was an American astronomer, and the first director of Harvard College Observatory.

As the first director of the Harvard College Observatory, from to , William Bond was one of the major figures in antebellum American astronomy.

He became the first director of the Harvard College Observatory in He conducted longitude expeditions and started a service for telegraphing time signals.

Upbringing

William Cranch Bond was born in Falmouth, Maine (near Portland) on September 9, 1789. When he was young, his father, William Bond, established himself as a clockmaker after a failed business venture; trained by his father and aided by his penchant for engineering, W.

C. Bond built his first clock when he was fifteen years old. He eventually took over his father’s business, becoming an expert clockmaker himself. The William Bond clock shop remained in existence at 9 Park Street in Boston until the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}.

Amateur astronomer

When he was seventeen years old, Bond saw the solar eclipse of June 16, 1806. Soon thereafter, he became an avi