 He was born in June 1897, six months after Maltby's sudden resignation at the end of the Fall 1896 term "in consequence of an accident" from her post as Associate Professor of Physics at Wellesley College.Maltby reappeared to resume her teaching career as an instructor at Lake Erie College in September 1897.She returned to a research position in Germany in 1898, leaving her son in the care of a friend with a well fitted-out nursery.