西濛·紐康,1835年3月10日生於加拿大的新斯科捨省，1909年7月11日卒於華盛頓哥倫比亞特區。美國總統林肯於1861年委任他為美國海軍的數學教授。他擔任此職直至去世，級彆相當於海軍後方司令。他在海軍天文颱進行瞭16年的天文觀測，並從事數學研究。《大英百科全書》說：“考慮到他的工作範圍之廣泛研究性質之重要，論及問題之豐富，以及他對目標秉持到底、始終不懈的追求，紐康肯定是那個時代最顯赫的天文學傢之一。

紐康教授從不慌忙，從未放棄每天長時間的散步，然而憑著他始終如一的努力，他竟有充分的的間去思考，去寫作，以至他的著作（書籍與論文）題目竟能包括541種之多，所論及的範圍又異常復雜，其中包括財政學（這也是他精通的）甚至還有小說。

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.