Early Life and Education
Charles Greely Abbot was born in Wilton, New Hampshire. His parents were farmers and he was the youngest of four children. As a youth he built and invented numerous things, such as a forge to fix tools, a water wheel to power a saw, and a bicycle. He dropped out of school when he was 13 to become a carpenter. Two years later he went back to high school. He attended Phillips Andover Academy. When a friend of his went to Boston to take the entrance exam to get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Abbot went for the chance to visit Boston. However, upon arrival, he was uncomfortable visiting Boston alone and chose to take the exam instead. He passed and his family gathered the funds to send him to MIT for one year. He started out studying chemical engineering, but eventually moved on to physics.
He would graduate in 1895 with a Masters of Science in physics. Abbot would meet Samuel P. Langley on MIT campus when Langely visited seeking an assistant. That year, he would start working as an aid at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
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