John Monroe Van Vleck

John Monroe Van Vleck ( born March 4, 1833 in Stone Ridge, New York, † November 4, 1912 in Middletown, Connecticut ) was an American astronomer.

Van Vleck attended Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1850. He then taught at the Greenwich Academy and was from 1851 to 1853 Nautical Almanac Office Assistant in. In 1853 he became professor of mathematics and from 1858 for mathematics and astronomy at Wesleyan University, where he followed until his death in 1904 was Professor Emeritus Emeritus and. 1872/73 and 1887 to 1889 he was Acting President of the University and from 1890 to 1893 as Vice President. In his capacity as president, he also brought Woodrow Wilson to the faculty.

In 1904, he was vice president of the American Mathematical Society and member of the German Astronomical Society. In 1876, he received a doctoral degree ( LL.D. ) from Northwestern University. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Van Vleck gave contributions to the American Nautical Almanac and published Moon and Saturn tables. In 1869 he took part in an eclipse expedition to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He was married to Mary Ellen Burr since 1854 (died 1899) and had a son, Edward Burr Van Vleck mathematician, and three daughters. He is the grandfather of Nobel Prize winner John Hasbrouck Van Vleck.

The Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University ( and the Astronomy Department ) and a crater on the Moon are named after him.