Sidney Dean Townley

Sidney Dean Townley (April 10, 1867 – March 18, 1946) was an American astronomer and geodeticist. He was a professor at Stanford University from 1911 until 1932. Among many other posts, Townley served as an instructor of astronomy at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley he was also the president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1916. Throughout the course of his career he published around 100 academic papers and edited many more, he was recognized for his excellent editorial skills.

Early life and education

Townley was born on April 10, 1867, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Reverend Robert Townley and his wife Mary Wilkinson. After the equivalent of a high school education in 1885, he gained a job as a clerk in the local town bank. A year and a half later he was admitted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

During his second year at the university he took a course in astronomy. He was also given a room at the Washburn Observatory and worked nights as an assistant. In 1896, he spent a year on-leave to travel through Germany, visiting major observatories in Berlin, Leipzig, and Munich. Together they had three daughters and at the time of retirement lived in Palo Alto, California. Another daughter, Isabel Townley Marx married the son of Stanford University mechanical engineering professor Guido Hugo Marx. Daughter Ruth Townley was born on February 13, 1908, and died on September 28, 1908. His youngest daughter, Frances Jane Townley was born on May 19, 1911. She married architect David Clark (her brother-in-law, Birge's Clark's brother).