Charles S. Hastings, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetCharles S. Hastings
American physicist
Date of Birth: 27-Nov-1848
Place of Birth: New York, United States
Date of Death: 31-Jan-1932
Profession: physicist
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius 
About Charles S. Hastings
- Charles Sheldon Hastings (November 27, 1848 – January 31, 1932) was an American physicist known for his work in optics.
- His father was Panet Marshall Hastings and his mother was Jane Sheldon Hastings.
- The father was a physician and anatomy teacher at Hamilton College, New York, where Charles was born.
- At the age of six the family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where Charles received his early education.
- Hastings entered Yale University's Sheffield School of Science in 1867 and received his bachelor's degree in 1870.
- His early interest in astronomy and telescopes were likely due to Chester Lyman, Chair of Physics and Astronomy at the Sheffield School.
- He then earned a PhD from Yale in 1873, and immediately was made an instructor in physics.
- In 1875 he resigned to study in Germany and France until being named an associate at the new Johns Hopkins University in 1876.
- He became an associate professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University and the first Chair of Professor of Physics of Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University.
- He collaborated with John A.
- Brashear on the optical design of large telescopes including the 72-inch (180 cm) reflector at Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and the 30-inch (76 cm) photographic refractor at Allegheny Observatory.
- His optical designs enabled much progress in astronomy at U.S.
- observatories.
- The Hastings Triplet magnifying glass design is based on his optical formulae.
- He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1926.In 1878 Hastings married Elizabeth Tracy Smith and they remained together for more than fifty years, until Elizabeth died in 1930 after a long illness.
- After the death of his wife, Hastings himself declined rapidly and died in January 1932.
- He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- In 1898, Hastings co-authored, with Frederick E.
- Beach, a textbook entitled A Text-Book of General Physics, which has been characterized as "difficult." It was considered an excellent text for those already enamored with physics but a bad one for those not so enthusiastic about the subject.
- One copy of this book, apparently once owned by a less enthusiastic student, reportedly contains the inscribed verse, "If we should have another flood | For safety hither fly | Although the earth would be submerged | This book would still be dry."
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