Loomis, Elias

Loomis, Elias

(1811–89) astronomer, mathematician; born in Willington, Conn. He taught math at Western Reserve College (1837–44), and natural history at the University of the City of New York (1844–60) and Yale (1860–89). He wrote books on math and astronomy, determined the speed that electrical current travels in wire, and calculated elements of the orbit of Halley's comet.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.