Article

Otto Julius Klotz

Published Online May 26, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Otto Julius Klotz, astronomer (b at Preston, Canada W 31 Mar 1852; d at Ottawa 28 Dec 1923). With W.F. KING and E.G. DEVILLE, Klotz was responsible for the formation of the astronomical branch of the Department of the Interior, and for the building of the Cliff Street Observatory in 1890.

Otto Julius Klotz

Otto Julius Klotz, astronomer (b at Preston, Canada W 31 Mar 1852; d at Ottawa 28 Dec 1923). With W.F. KING and E.G. DEVILLE, Klotz was responsible for the formation of the astronomical branch of the Department of the Interior, and for the building of the Cliff Street Observatory in 1890. With King he planned the Dominion Observatory and succeeded him as director in 1917 after the post had been vacant for 18 months. As an astronomer he established positions along the Canadian Pacific Railway right-of-way through BC in 1885, participated on the team that determined the longitude of Montréal west of Greenwich, and in 1903-04 extended the longitude from Vancouver across the Pacific along the new cable route, closing the link previously established from England eastward to Australia.