Albert Michelson (as in M-Morley experiment)

[Monte Davis]

"Had an improbably interesting life.

Family were Prussian Jews who got tired of life in Prussia after the
post-1848 crackdown. Mom and Dad fled to the Old West and went into business
as shopkeepers in Virginia City. Young Albert learned math helping his
parents run the store.

The family moved to San Francisco, but Albert wanted more education than
could be found on the West Coast. (This was c. 1870; the University of
California was just two years old, fit on a single city block, and didn't
offer classes in advanced math.) So Albert hoboed his way across the country
to Washington to ask President Grant in person for a scholarship to
Annapolis. 

His subsequent career as a Naval mathematician took him all over the world.
He had various adventures.. But the Navy wasn't doing the really interesting
stuff, so he quit and became a professor."
 
***
 
Above nicked from a comment today by "Doug M" (is that YOU, Doug?) on James
Nicoll's estimable LiveJournal.
 
Maybe, just maybe, some more raw material for Kit here?

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