About A. E. Douglass
A. E. (Andrew Ellicott) Douglass (July 5, 1867 in Windsor, Vermont – March 20, 1962 in Tucson, Arizona) was an American astronomer and archaeologist. He discovered a correlation between tree rings and the sunspot cycle, and founded the discipline of dendrochronology, which is a method of dating wood by analyzing the growth ring pattern. He started his discoveries in this field in 1894 when he was working at the Lowell Observatory. During this time he was an assistant to Percival Lowell, but fell out with him when his experiments made him doubt the existence of artificial "canals" on Mars and visible spokes on Venus. Douglass was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1941. Craters on the Moon and Mars are named in his honor. == Founding of Steward Observatory == After a 5-year hiatus from astronomy, Douglass left Flagstaff, Arizona in 1906 and accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Physics and Geography at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Tucson, Douglass re-established his astronomical research programs using an 8-inch refracting telescope on loan from the Harvard College Observatory and actively began to pursue funding to construct a large research-class telescope in Tucson. Over the next 10 years Douglass was unable to secure funding from the university and the Arizona Territorial (and later State) Legislatures. During this period Douglass served the University of Arizona as Head of the Dept.
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