Brown and White Vol. 3 no. 1

              lehigh university south bethlehem fa september 11 1895 sto 1 the brown and white vol 111 been elected such a scholarly and eminently fitted gentleman as prof charles l thornburg 8.5 c.e ph d professor thornburg was born at barboursville w va in 1859 he received ms elimentary edu cation in the private and common schools of the state graduating from the normal school at hunt ington in 1876 for two years he taught in the public schools and then entered the scientific course at yanderbilt university in col lege he distinguished himself and in the senior year ho won a one hundred dollar scholarship grad j uating with 8.5 in 1881 he was 1 elected a fellow in mathematics and held that positions for two w va lie has observed and reported on various astronomical phenomena and the reports may be found in the astronomical journal he is a charter member of the engineering association of the south and a member of the society lor the promotion of en gineering education at the time of election to lehigh professor thornburg was treasurer of the vanderbik university athletic association vice president of the lawn tennis association secretary of vanderbilt alumni university fund association and president of vanderbilt university missionary brotherhood and in all respects closely in sympathy with the stu dent body tinued his studies at johns hop kins university in 1881 as a gradu ate student for a little more than a year he was a professor at hobait college geneva n v and then he returned to johns hopkins again in 1884 he received the degree of m a from williams college and shortly after that was elected principal of the jacksonville fla high school where he remained three years from 1888 until 1891 professor thayer was an instructor of modern languages at baltimore md and from there he was called to the chair of modern languages at the pennsylvania state college this latter position he resigned to accept the professorship at lehigh as a teacher and a writer professor thayer's career has - been unusually successful he has the true teacher's faculty of arousing interest and en thusiasm in his work he is a facile writer and well known by his many papers and book reviews in periodical litera ture as a man he is es teemed by all who know him state college students showed their appreciation of him by publishing his photograph as a frontispiece in their 96 la dr alexander macfarlane lehigh's new professors the department of electrical engineering has been greatly strengthened by the appointment of a new professor to take the chair idft vacant by the resigna tion of professor harding the new j incumbent is dr alexander mauftrlanejk.a d.sc ll.d dr ma6'farlanc was born in scotland in 1851 in 1869 ho en tered the university of edinburgh and immediately distinguished himself in classics incidentally win ning enough scholarships to carry him tjhrough an extensive under graduate course in 1865 he graduated master of arts with highest honors in mathe matics and physics and was immediately appointed an in structor in pjaysics by profes sor tait ift 1878 he obtained the degree of doctor of science in physics and mathematics and was elected a fellow of the koyal society of edin burgh in 1885 dr macfar lane was called to the chair of physics in the university of texas and for nine years he held this position mean while building up a fine physical department and ac complishing a large amount of research work for which purpose spending his vaca tions at the great universities of the north in 1887 he received the honorary degree of ll.d from the university of michigan he is a member of the american institute of electrical engineers corres ponding member of several foreign scientific societies and as honorary secretary of the texas academy of science he was successful in laying personally dr macfarlane is a characteristic scotchman sturdy persevering with a relish for hard work thoughtful courageous of his convictions and critical of the statements not only of others but of himself also as a writer he has attracted the lively attention of european as well as american physicists numerous electrical and mathematical books and papers attest the profound char acter of his investigations an ex tensive list of which can be found in the electrical world of oct 13 189 i and also in a pamphlet of his writings issued by himself john h ogburn c e the corps of instructors in the department of mathemat ics will be increased this term by the addition of mr john h ogburn who has been ap pointed instructor of mathe matics and astronomy mr ogburn is a native of tennessee and a graduate of vancerbilt university in the class of 92 in his senior year he received the foun j ders medal for highest class standing and was elected to a fellowship in engineering during the session of 92-93 he pursued studies in engineering and astronomy and at the finish of this was appointed assistant of dudley observatory at albany n y at the observatory mr og burn has had charge of the equa torial the principal work being connected with asteroids ; in meas uring their positions and computing orbits of a few of the lately dis covered ones mr ogburn is a congenial all around man and is interested in college matters at yanderbilt university he played for two years on the varsity base ball team he is a member of the beta theta pi fraternity ■ ■ ■+• kepairs have been going on for the past two weeks on the roof and wall at the east end of packer hall snyder ex-'96 has returned to college and will enter the class of 97 l " prof william c thayer to the chair of english language and literature last term vacated through the death of our beloved dr ooppee there has been elected an able professor in the person of william c thayer m a professor thayer received the degree of b a from columbia in 1876 after finishing a very successful and pronounced course his talents were far above the ordinary par and his classmates did not question his title as best liter ary scholar and writer that there was among them they even re cognized his ability to such an extent that they refused to com pete for literary or essay prizes until they found he was not a candidate after graduating pro fessor thayer began teaching at once in 1879 he went to goettin gen and spent two years in philo logical studies after another brief period of teaching he con prof charles l thornburg lehigh has suffered a great loss in the resignation of professor doolittle from the chair of math ematics but it is the good fortune of the university to hear that to this vacated position there has years after which he entered the engineering department and grad uated with o.e in 1883 then he pursuaded the post graduate fellowship in engineering for two years in 1884 professor thornburg took the degree of ph.d the courses of study being pure and applied mathematics and astron omy since that time he has been continously connected with van derbilt university in the capacities of instructor and assistant pro fessor and adjunct professor in civil engineering and astronomy professor thornburg had charge of the determination tor the tran sit of venus in 1882 and reduced all the observations for the report to the u s naval observatory be sides this practical work he spent the summers from 1877 to 1886 in general engineering work as assistant to city engineer and county surveyor at huntington