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Page 15 text:
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iJuljn Alfred Irasljrar, 8 r.S., iCO. To most of those into whose hands this publication will come, a baldly statistical sketch of the life of l)r. John Alfred Brashcar will be as remote from the living man of our acquaintance as is the juicelcss specimen in a herbarium from the flower of the field. It has been our good fortune to enjoy his faithful, interested service as a trustee for many years; as acting Chancellor for a shorter period he was an every-day comi anion; and on many an occasion his magnetic personality, as he has talked to the student body of the wonders and beauties of the heavens, has charmed in a manner never to be forgotten. Our best knowledge of the man is embalmed in our memories of him. A neighboring county gave him to Pittsburg; he was born in Brownsville, in 1840. Here he had most of his formal education in {he public schools of the town. To his own ambitious efforts and steady persistence must be credited the acquisition of those great stores of knowledge in his particular field and in general that are now his. I le was a grocer’s clerk for some time and a thoroughly good one, according to the testimony of his employer given to the writer some years ago. The boys on the “hill’’ will not forget his genuine affection for the companion of his life, who, through all changing fortunes, has for loyal helpfulness received a royal devotion. They were married in 1862 in Pittsburg. His adopted trade, that of a machinist, could not command his entire allegiance. The dusky shop might claim his days, but the nights were his in which to live among the stars; as lie lived with them he aspired to know them as well as they could be known, and sought with the labor of his own hands to provide the necessary instruments, putting into them the honesty of workmanship which both his skill as a mechanician and the love of truth in his heart compelled him to put into his work, thus from the simple satisfaction of his own needs, he 5
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Page 16 text:
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grew little by little into the position he now so rightfully holds as a manufacturer of astronomical instruments, second to none. 1 loners have flown in upon him steadily in recognition of his knowledge and skill. This University has honored itself in bestowing upon him the Degree of Doctor of Science and at Washington and Jefferson as well as at Wooster lie has been made Doctor of Laws. The number of astronomical societies of which he is a member both at home and abroad is too large to be ([noted in full in a brief sketch, but the naming of them would disclose their eminent distinction. At home he has been frequently called upon for conspicuous service in the associations of which he is a member and elsewhere. 11c has been president of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania and of the Academy of Science and Arts, Pittsburg; acting director of the Allegheny Observatory and. as previously mentioned, acting Chancellor of this University. As was said of Sir Christopher Wrcnn: “si monumentum requiris, circumspicc. Crowning the hill, at the highest point in Riverview Park, rises the magnificent new Observatory, visible from almost any direction for miles around. To it he gave long years of thoughtful planning and anticipation. When at length its cornerstone was laid, he untiringly sought friends and necessary financial support until to-dav it stands in measureable fulfillment of his aspirations. starting out upon that career of further conquest of the heavens which shall honorably perpetuate the name and fame begun for the old Observatory by Langley and Keeler. And at some day—may it be far distant—there ought to be inscribed among the names of the illustrious astronomers dead, which may now he read upon its walls, another; and that name is Brashear. 6
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