Professor Solon Irving Bailey '88, senior member of the staff of the Harvard College Observatory and Phillips Professor of Astronomy since 1912, who has been in charge of the station at Arequipa, Peru, for the last two years, has been given the degree of Doctor of Science by the University of San Agustin at Arequipa, Peru, and at the same time was made Honorary Professor of Astronomy at the University.

In 1889 Professor Bailey was sent to Peru to investigate conditions there in order to determine the best location for a southern station for the Harvard College Observatory. His examination of the west coast of South America, from the equator to southern Chile, resulted in the selection of Arequipa. This station, because of its southern location, its numerous telescopes, and its high altitude of 8000 feet is of considerable importance and supplies the major part of the material that is used in the astronomical investigations at the Harvard Observatory.

Professor Bailey studied at Boston University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1881 and his master's degree there, and later at Harvard in 1888. From 1898 to 1912 he was associate professor in Harvard University and was for some years acting director of the observatory.