Frederick Slocum

Who was Frederick Slocum?

Frederick Slocum was an American astronomer.

He was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts to Frederick and Lydia Ann Jones Slocum. His father was a whaling ship captain, and Frederick spent much of his youth mastering boat handling. He enrolled at Brown University in 1891, and was awarded his A.B. in 1895 and a Ph.D. in 1898. He joined the staff of Brown University as a mathematics instructor, then became an assistant professor of astronomy in 1900 under the influence of Professor Winslow Upton. Frederick Slocum took a leave of absence 1908–9 to study at the Royal Astronomical Observatory in Potsdam, Germany. He joined Yerkes Observatory in 1909 as an assistant, and remained there until 1911. He assisted Samuel A. Mitchell in research with parallax measurement techniques, and these were published in 1913.

In 1914 he became the first professor of astronomy at Wesleyan University, where he planned and supervised the construction of the Van Vleck Observatory. He became director of the observatory in 1915, and held this post until 1944. During World War I, he was absent while training merchant captains in the skill of navigation at the United States Shipping Board. He also spent some time at Brown University as professor in charge of the Department of Naval Science, before returning. He retired from Wesleyan in failing health on November 1, 1944.