Klotz, Otto Julius National Historic Person

Cambridge, Ontario
Klotz, Otto Julius © William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Otto Julius Klotz, 1901
© William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Klotz, Otto Julius © William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives CanadaOtto Julius Klotz with his daughter © Topley Studio Fonds / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / PA-043040
Address : 615 King Street East, Cambridge, Ontario

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1938-05-19
Life Date: 1852 to 1923

Other Name(s):
  • Klotz, Otto Julius  (Designation Name)

Importance: Astronomer, geographer, director of the Dominion Observatory (1917-23)

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  Central Park, Cambridge, Ontario

Born at Preston, Upper Canada, and educated at Toronto and Michigan Universities, Klotz joined the public service in 1879. For thirty years he was engaged in topographical surveys in British Columbia, the Canadian Northwest, and Alaska. Appointed Assistant Chief Astronomer in 1908, he became director of the Dominion Observatory in 1917. The author of many papers on astronomy and geography, he was elected to fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada in 1910. He died at Ottawa.