Ormond Stone (January 11, 1847 – January 17, 1933), was an American astronomer, mathematician and educator. He was the director of Cincinnati Observatory and subsequently the first director of the McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia, where he trained a significant number of scientists. He served as the editor of the Annals of Mathematics and towards the end of his life made donations which led to the founding of the Fairfax Public Library System. Early years Stone was born in Pekin, Illinois, to Methodist minister Elijah and Sophia Louise (Creighton) Stone. While attending Chicago High School, he met Truman Henry Safford, an astronomer at the recently completed Dearborn Observatory. Stone became his pupil, quickly beginning his lifelong interest in astronomy. In 1866, Stone enrolled at the Old University of Chicago, graduating with a degree of master's degree in 1870. Working his way through school, he served as an instructor in 1867–1868 at Racine College in Wisconsin, then at the Northwestern Female College (which is now a part of Northwestern University) at Evanston, Illinois in 1869. Also that year, he participated in what would be the first of three eclipse expeditions in his lifetime. It was on this trip to Des Moines, Iowa, with Safford that he met astronomers from the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). He would end up being in charge of the later two expeditions, the first in 1878, when he led the USNO expedition to Colorado, and the May 28, 1900 eclipse, when he led the McCormick Observatory expedition to Winesboro, South Carolina. Upon graduating from the University of Chicago in 1870, he accepted an assistantship at the USNO, where he stayed until 1875. He was assigned to the Meridian Circle, under William Harkness. His tenure there coincided with the arrival of the Alvan Clark refractor at the Naval Observatory. This telescope was essentially a twin to the future McCormick Refractor. In 1871, he married Catherine Flagler of Washington, D.C. Cincinnati Observatory In 1875, Stone accepted the directorship of the Cincinnati Observatory, having received a recommendation from Simon Newcomb. While there, he instituted a program of discovering new southern double stars and was the first to establish standard time for an American city, and he pushed for the adoption of Standard Time Belts (or zones, as we now know them). McCormick Observatory In 1882, Stone was offered the position of director at the brand new observatory