Abstract
In the second half of the nineteenth century America was coming into its own as a significant presence in the astronomical community. Young Leonard Waldo (1853–1929) of Cincinnati would participate in some of the earliest examples as assistant astronomer in his country’s expedition to Hobart, Tasmania to observe the transit of Venus of 1874, and as leader of the government expedition to Fort Worth, Texas to observe the total solar eclipse of 1878. His fascinating biography is replete with anecdotes of drama and conflict that touched many lives, both in and outside of the astronomical community, and leading to a change in his professional priorities.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the staff of the Cambridge Public Library with their help in accessing the materials of the ‘Harvard Observatory History in Images’ which included the correspondence from H. Shapley to E. Upton, the complete libretto of the ‘Harvard Observatory Pinafore,’ and articles from the Cambridge Chronicle.
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Cottam, S. (2023). ‘Where’s Waldo?’ Leonard Waldo and the 1878 Total Solar Eclipse in Fort Worth, Texas. In: Gullberg, S., Robertson, P. (eds) Essays on Astronomical History and Heritage. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29493-8_17
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