Philip A. Welker

Philip Albert Welker (June 1, 1857 – December 24, 1926) was an American geodetic engineer, hydrographer, and civil engineer. He spent his entire 42-year career with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and oversaw surveys of the Atlantic Coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Philippines.

Early life Welker was born in Toledo, Ohio, on June 1, 1857. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of civil engineering degree in June 1878. While there, he was a member of Alpha Sigma Chi fraternity (later part of Beta Theta Pi).

Career In 1879, Welker was appointed to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, eventually rising to the rank of captain. In 1879, he worked on triangulation in Missouri.

In 1881, he was assigned to California, where he conducted a hydrographic survey of San Francisco Bay. In 1882, he conducted an astronomical study of the movement of Venus across the moon. In 1893, he completed triangulation work on the Alaska boundary. He also conducted surveys of the coasts of Puerto Rico and the Isthmus of Panama, allowing the United States to publish the first complete navigation charts of these areas.

Personal life Welker married Maude B. Loud of Abington, Massachusetts on March 17, 1885, in Oakland, California. She died in April 1890. They had a son and a daughter.

He was a member of the Cosmos Club, the Federal Club of Washington, D.C., the Philippine Club in New York City, and the University Club of Manila. He was a member of the Knights Templar and was a 32nd degree Freemason. He also belonged to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

He died December 24, 1926, at his home in Washington, D.C., at the age of sixty years. He was buried in Toledo, Ohio.