Tittmann was born in 1850, in Belleville, Illinois[2] to revolutionary parents fleeing the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions.

[3] He attended school in St. Louis, and in 1867 joined the United States Coast Survey.

[2] 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 1899, Tittmann served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington.

[4] And, from 1895 until 1900 he was assistant in charge of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.