AAdditional Games
- Chessgames
- Co-editor, “Chess and Checkers” by William Ambrose Radspinner, inauguration to finale from 07/04/1926-11/06/1927.
William Ambrose Radspinner
March 26, 1898-February 02, 1983
W. A. Radspinner Was Horticulturist 04 Feb 1983, Fri The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) Newspapers.com
W. A. Radspinner Was Horticulturist
Services for William Ambrose Radspinner, 84, Indianapolis, horticulturist, onetime nationally ranked chess player and inventor of the “perfect” Gregorian Calendar, will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday in Flanner & Buchanan Fall Creek Mortuary.
Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m Sunday.
Radspinner, who died Wednesday at his home, retired eight years ago from an expansive career of horticulture and teaching. He devised the “perfect” Gregorian Calendar in 1976.
The Gregorian Calendar, used by most persons in the Western World and named after the Pope who last improved the calendar, still failed to account for a fraction of a day that made each 400 years short by almost three hours.
He arrived at the solution by using the year 3200—instead of the Gregorian's 4000 as the base for his computations. The result will require one less leap year before the year 3200.
The calendar was published in the Washington Post and several other publications.
Radspinner was appointed assistant horticulturist in 1948 for the U. S. Department of Agriculture in New York City.
He previously was an assistant professor of horticulture at Oklahoma State University and had taught at Cornell and Iowa State universities. Many of his works were published in American Society for Agriculture of Science.
He received an undergraduate degree in horticulture from Purdue University and a master's degree from Iowa State University.
He joined the landscape division of New York City in 1956, retiring in 1968. He returned here in 1970, took up chess as a hobby and became ranked among the best players in the country.
He was an Army veteran of World War II and a member of American Chess Foundation, Lilly Chess Club and Purdue University Alumni Association.
Survivors—wife Ferne; sons William, Albert.
Horticulturist Dies at 84 06 Feb 1983, Sun The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) Newspapers.com
Horticulturist Dies at 84
INDIANAPOLIS - Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday in Flanner and Buchanan Fall Creek Mortuary for William Ambrose Radspinner, 84, who died Wednesday.
The retired horticulturist and teacher was once a nationally ranked chess player and he invented a Gregorian calendar in 1976 that solved the imperfection of the Gregorian calendar now in use of being about 3 hours off each 400 years.
He had taught in several universities. His wife and two sons survive.
