Name Catherine Bruce | ||
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Died March 13, 1900, New York City, New York, United States | ||
Catherine Wolfe Bruce (January 22, 1816, New York – March 13, 1900, New York) was a noted American philanthropist and patroness of astronomy.
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Early life
Bruce was born on January 22, 1816. She was the daughter of the George Bruce (1781–1866), a famous type founder who was born in Edinburgh, and Catherine Wolfe (1785–1861), the daughter of David Wolfe (1748–1836) of New York City. Her brother was David Wolfe Bruce (1824–1895), who, along with David Wolfe Bishop, inherited the fortune of their cousin, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe.
Career
She studied painting, learned Latin, German, French and Italian, and was familiar with the literature of those languages.
In 1890, she wrote and published a translation of the "Dies Arae." That same year, she returned to Heidelberg and began lecturing at the university as a privat-docent, essentially an unpaid instructor.
Personal life
Due to an ever-increasing illness, she was confined to her home and died on March 13, 1900 at 810 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Philanthropy
In 1877, she donated $50,000 for the construction of a library building and the purchase of books in memory of her father. The library, known as "The George Bruce Library" was completed in 1888 and was located at 226 West 42nd Street and designed by G. E. Harney. The building was sold in 1913 and the proceeds were used to build the current George Bruce library located on 125th Street in Harlem and designed by Carrère & Hastings.
Bruce made over 54 gifts to astronomy, totaling over $275,000, between 1889 to 1899.
In 1887, she donated the George Bruce Free Library. Between 1889 and 1899 she donated funds to the Harvard College Observatory (U.S.A.), Yerkes Observatory (U.S.A.) and Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl (Germany), run by Max Wolf at the time, to buy new telescopes at each of those institutes.
Honors
The Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific is named after her, as well as the asteroid 323 Brucia, and the crater Bruce on the Moon. She received a gold medal by the Grand Duke of Baden.