Bill was from Wallace, where his grandfather worked in the quarry and kept the lighthouse. His father was the village doctor until their move to the backwoods of northern Quebec. While there, Bill was home schooled by his mother until age 14, when…
Born at Wallace Bridge, Newcomb moved to the United States in 1853. Graduating from Harvard he became Professor of Mathematics in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the Naval Observatory. He was soon recognized as an authority on mathematical astro…