Hall, Asaph

astronomer, born at Goshen, Conn., Oct. 15, 1829; studied astronomy at the Uni ersity of Michigan, under Brunnow, and became a istant to Prof. W. C. Bond in the observatory at Harvard; appointed to the position of aide in the Naval Observatory, Washington (1862), and in the following year was commi ioned profe or of mathematics in the Navy. Of several expeditions made by him for astronomical observations, the most important was that to Vladivostok, Siberia, to observe the transit of Venus (1874). He was the succe or of Prof. Newcomb in the charge of the great equatorial at Washington (1875), and made his famous discovery of the satellites of Mars in 1877. Many of the results of his work are published in the Washington Observations. The Royal Astronomical Society of London has awarded him a gold medal.