STUDENT OF THE COSMOS Page 3

STUDENT OF THE COSMOS Mr. Maxim wrote and lectured on scientific subjects, particularly astronomy. He was greatly interested in Mars and had constructed a globe bearing all the known dataon the markings appearing on that planet. (Photo by R. B. Bourne, W1ANA).

Astronomy interested him and in his later years he became quite well informed upon the subject, wriiting and lecturing on it, including the philosophical implications of the cosmos. His always active mind was intrigued with the possibilities of life on other planets and his scienfific interest caused him to assemble all available data on the surface conditions existing on the planets. He created a mild stir some years ago with his book, "Life's Place in the Cosmos," in which he speculated upon those possibilities. He was immensely interested in the new 200-inch reflector and witnessed its pouring at Corning. One of the objectives of his last trip was a visit to the Percival Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, where he had been invited to make observations. He was particularly interested in the planet Mars and had a globe of his own making on which he had transferred all the mysterious markings on the face of that planet, to facilitate study.

He was also an enthusiastic yachtsman, a former director of the Hartford Yacht Club, and the skipper of the power cruiser Moby Dick. Accompanied by his daughter, he once made a trip of several months through the rivers and lakes of Canada in a folding canvas canoe with outboard motor.      Recently he had been devoting much time to writing and lecturing, mostly on scientific subjects. He had a lucid and entertaining style that delighted his lay audiences. His father had been a remarkable man and concerning that unusual parent Mr. Maxim wrote a book also soon to be published by Harper's, two installments of which appeared last autumn in Harper's Magazine.

He was immensely active in all his chosen fields. He was the founder and first president of the Hartford Engineers Club, member of the Executive Committee of the M.I.T. Alumni, permanent toastmaster ofhis class at M.I.T., longtime chaiman of the Hartford branch of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, on-time chairman of the Connecticut Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, president of the Hartford Amateur Cinema Club, and a member of too many technnical societies to list. Colgate honored him with the degree of Doctor of Science. He was a retired lieutenant-commander in the U.S.N.R.      We quote from an editorial in The Hartford Times:      "Death found the shining mark it loves in Hiram Percy Maxim. Hartford had, perhaps, in this generation, no keener mind, no man who had a greater catholicty of interests, who sought more eagerly new knowledge in whatever field. Everything about life interested him. He had a vast range of knowledge, yet was utterly unostentatious and gifted with a personal magnetism which caused him to be eagerly sought after as a companion. Life was a romance for him and he had a great zest for everything about it...There was almost no field which his keen and alert mind did not wish to esplore, whether it had to do with social science, philosophy, astronomy, industrial development or whatever it might be. Everything interested him, every man's experience, every happening of any nature...He had a boundless enthusiasm for everything that was new. Unlike most scientists he was not content with a purely materialistic view of the universe. In recent lectures he had said that the more one familiarized himself with all that science had discovered the greater his respect for the orderliness of it all and the stronger the conviction that behind the order must be some supreme force. Knowledge made him neither discontented nor pessimistic. Life remained for him to the end a great and exhilarating adventure. He was a remarkable man, a choice spirit.

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