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AUER, LOUIS AGRICOLA, "L. A. Bauer," was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 26, 1865. His father, Ludwig Bauer, a native of Germany, was a merchant in Cincinnati and after coming to America married Wilhelmina Buhler, also a native of Germany. He died when his son was quite young. His mother being in full accord with the boy in his desire to obtain a university education assisted him as best she could. He was fond of handling tools when a boy, and developed skill as an amateur carpenter. While receiving his collegiate education he was engaged in tutoring, and as assistant in the Public Library of Cincinnati, He was graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1888 with the degree of C.E. with " highest distinction"; and in 1894 he also received the degree of M.S. from the University of Cincinnati. In 1892 he went to the University of Berlin, where he took a course of three years in mathematical physics, astronomy, meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, receiving the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D., "magna cum laude," his dissertation being upon the "Secular Motion of a Free Magnetic Needle," announcing for the first time an important law concerning the secular variation of the earth's magnetism.

He was a civil engineer in Cincinnati, 1886-87; astronomical and magnetic computer in the office of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, District of Columbia, 1887-92; docent in mathematical physics, University of Chicago, 1895-96; instructor in geophysics, University of Chicago, 1896-97; assistant professor of mathematics and mathematical physics, University of Cincinnati, 1897-99; lecturer on terrestrial magnetism, Johns Hopkins university since 1899; and chief of the division of terrestrial magnetism, Maryland Geological Survey, 1896-99; astronomer and magnetician of the Western Boundary Survey of Maryland, in 1897. In 1897 he received a grant from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for conducting special investigations in terrestrial magnetism. The result of his magnetic survey of Maryland was decisive in leading the superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey,