9.3 Kapteyn Cottage
179
Fig. 9.6 Kapteyn and his wife aboard a steamship bound for the United States and
Mount Wilson. This picture is from Hertzsprung–Kapteyn’s biography [1]
way. A direct train journey from New York to Los Angeles already took about
four or five days (in 1876 there was a record of 83 h and 39 min, but of course
that was not a regular scheduled journey and around 1910 this was probably
still faster than what was being offered in the timetable); with all the detours
they took, we may safely assume that on the way to Pasadena as well as on the
way back they were traveling maybe as long as two to four weeks.
Upon their arrival in Pasadena the Kapteyns heard that Simon Newcomb
had died. The trip of 1909 is reasonably documented in letters between the
ladies Kapteyn and Newcomb. On July 4, Elise Kapteyn wrote that they had
arrived in America. From Mount Wilson she wrote that they planned on their
way back to travel first to Williamsbay (i.e. visiting Frost at Yerkes), arriving
there on the 27th or 28th of September and to visit the widow Newcomb on
the 29th or 30th. Kapteyn wrote to George Hale on October 9th that they
were about to leave the United States and later that they had returned home
179
Fig. 9.6 Kapteyn and his wife aboard a steamship bound for the United States and
Mount Wilson. This picture is from Hertzsprung–Kapteyn’s biography [1]
way. A direct train journey from New York to Los Angeles already took about
four or five days (in 1876 there was a record of 83 h and 39 min, but of course
that was not a regular scheduled journey and around 1910 this was probably
still faster than what was being offered in the timetable); with all the detours
they took, we may safely assume that on the way to Pasadena as well as on the
way back they were traveling maybe as long as two to four weeks.
Upon their arrival in Pasadena the Kapteyns heard that Simon Newcomb
had died. The trip of 1909 is reasonably documented in letters between the
ladies Kapteyn and Newcomb. On July 4, Elise Kapteyn wrote that they had
arrived in America. From Mount Wilson she wrote that they planned on their
way back to travel first to Williamsbay (i.e. visiting Frost at Yerkes), arriving
there on the 27th or 28th of September and to visit the widow Newcomb on
the 29th or 30th. Kapteyn wrote to George Hale on October 9th that they
were about to leave the United States and later that they had returned home