[2] He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and was valedictorian when he graduated in 1875.

[1] Upton then worked as an assistant at Mitchel Observatory of the University of Cincinnati where he received his master's degree in 1877.

During this time he wrote a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S.

[7] During his tenure Upton also served as secretary of the faculty and dean at Brown.

[10] Upton wrote a monthly astronomy column for the Providence Journal for twenty years.