He worked as a machinist, and was offered a job as a mechanician at the Department of
Physics at the
University of Toronto, constructing apparatus and assisting with demonstrations during lectures. He found this so interesting that at the age of 30 he enrolled as an undergraduate in mathematics and physics. He stayed at the university until 1903, doing research on color photography. His formal astronomical career did not start until 1903, when he was appointed to the staff at
Dominion Observatory in
Ottawa, Ontario. He measured
radial velocities and studied
spectroscopic binaries, and performed the first detailed analysis of galactic structure. His mechanical background was very useful for constructing various instruments. He became first director of the
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in
Victoria, British Columbia in 1917 (not to be confused with the old
Dominion Observatory in
Ottawa). , 1910 == Family and legacy ==