Robert Simpson Woodward

Robert Simpson Woodward (July 21, 1849 – June 29, 1924) was an American civil engineer, physicist and mathematician.

He was dean of the faculty of pure science at Columbia from 1895 to 1905, when he became president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, whose reputation and usefulness as a means of furthering scientific research was widely extended under his direction.

Professor Woodward carried on researches and published papers in many departments of astronomy, geodesy, and mechanics.

In the course of his work with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey he devised and constructed the "iced bar and long tape base apparatus," which enables a base line to be measured with greater accuracy and with less expense than by methods previously employed.

His work on the composition and structure of the earth and the variation of latitude found expression in a number of valuable papers.