Otto Hilgard Tittmann

Otto Hilgard Tittmann
Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
In office December 1, 1900 – April 24, 1914
Preceded by	Henry Smith Pritchett
Succeeded by	Ernest Lester Jones
Personal details
Born	(1850-08-20)August 20, 1850 Belleville, Illinois
Died	February 14, 1938(1938-02-14) (aged 87) Leesburg, Virginia
Parent(s)	Edward Tittmann, Rosa Hilgard
Occupation	Geodesist
Known for	Co-founder of the National Geographic Society

Otto Hilgard Tittmann (August 20, 1850 – August 21, 1938) was an American geodesist, geographer, and astronomer of German descent.

Biography

Tittmann was born in 1850, in Belleville, Illinois to revolutionary parents fleeing the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions. He attended school in St. Louis, and in 1867 joined the United States Coast Survey. In 1874 he was assistant astronomer in Japan to view the Transit of Venus and from 1889 until 1893 he was in charge of weights and measures. In 1888 he co-founded the National Geographic Society. In 1899, Tittmann served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington. And, from 1895 until 1900 he was assistant in charge of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1906. From 1900 until 1915 he was Superintendent of the Survey, and from 1915 until 1919 he was president of the National Geographic Society. He died in Leesburg, Virginia, in 1938.

External links

• Works by or about Otto Hilgard Tittmann at the Internet Archive