1.
Royal Astronomical Society
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The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research. It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV, a Supplemental Charter in 1915 opened up the fellowship to women. Meetings are held in Burlington House, in Piccadilly, London and they are involved in the production of astronomical journals and periodicals. The society has over 3000 members, around a third of whom live outside the UK, in addition, those members of the public who have an interest in astronomy and geophysics and wish to support the work of the society may become Friends of the RAS. One of the activities of the RAS is publishing refereed journals. It publishes two primary research journals, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in astronomy and the Geophysical Journal International in geophysics and it also publishes the magazine A&G which includes reviews and other articles of wide scientific interest in a glossy format. Fellowship is open to anyone over the age of 18 who is considered acceptable to the society, as a result of the societys foundation in a time before there were many professional astronomers, no formal qualifications are required. However, around three quarters of fellows are professional astronomers or geophysicists, the society acts as the professional body for astronomers and geophysicists in the UK and fellows may apply for the Science Councils Chartered Scientist status through the society. The fellowship passed 3,000 in 2003, in 2009 an initiative was launched for those with an interest in astronomy and geophysics but without professional qualifications or specialist knowledge in the subject. Such people may join the Friends of the RAS, which offers popular talks, visits, ordinary meetings featuring lectures about research topics in astronomy and geophysics are normally held in Burlington House in London on the second Friday of every month from October through to May. Reports of the meetings appear in The Observatory magazine, scientific discussion meetings about particular research topics are held on the day of the ordinary meetings. These allow several speakers to present new research results and experts to present reviews of scientific fields, discussion meetings on two different topics within astronomy and geophysics frequently take place in parallel at different locations within Burlington House. The Society occasionally hosts meetings in other parts of the United Kingdom, the Society also sponsors the National Astronomy Meeting, a week-long general conference of professional astronomers, normally held each spring at a university campus in the United Kingdom. The Society holds occasional lunchtime public lectures in Central London aimed at a general, non-specialist, the Royal Astronomical Society has a more comprehensive collection of books and journals in astronomy and geophysics than the libraries of most universities and research institutions. The library receives some 300 current periodicals in astronomy and geophysics and its collection of astronomical rare books is second only to that of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh in the UK. The RAS library is a resource not just for the society but also the wider community of astronomers, geophysicists. The society promotes astronomy to members of the public through their outreach pages for students, teachers. The RAS has a role in relation to UK public examinations, such as GCSEs
2.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
3.
William Herschel
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Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS was a British astronomer and composer of German origin, and brother of fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel, with whom he worked. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, Herschel followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that the nebulae in the Messier catalogue were clusters of stars, Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 and in 1820. In the course of an observation on 13 March 1781, he realized that one celestial body he had observed was not a star and this was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer and he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry as a tool, using prisms. Other work included a determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally. In addition, Herschel discovered infrared radiation, Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820 and he died in August 1822, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel. Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and his father was an oboist in the Hanover Military Band. In 1755 the Hanoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm, at the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under King George II. As the threat of war with France loomed, the Hanoverian Guards were recalled from England to defend Hanover, after they were defeated at the Battle of Hastenbeck, Herschels father Isaak sent his two sons to seek refuge in England in late 1757. Although his older brother Jakob had received his dismissal from the Hanoverian Guards, Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, was a quick student of the English language. In England he went by the English rendition of his name, in addition to the oboe, he played the violin and harpsichord and later the organ. He composed numerous works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos. Six of his symphonies were recorded in April 2002 by the London Mozart Players, Herschel moved to Sunderland in 1761 when Charles Avison immediately engaged him as first violin and soloist for his Newcastle orchestra, where he played for one season. In ‘Sunderland in the County of Durh, apprill 20th 1761’ he wrote his Symphony No.8 in C Minor. He was head of the Durham Militia band 1760–61 and visited the home of Sir Ralph Milbanke at Halnaby Hall in 1760, after Newcastle he moved to Leeds and Halifax where he was the first organist at St John the Baptist church
4.
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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It was disbanded on the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016. Following the departments dissolution, it no longer has ministers responsible, the Permanent Secretary was Sir Martin Donnelly. Economic policy is devolved but several important policy areas are reserved to Westminster. Further and higher education policy is mostly devolved, reserved and excepted matters are outlined below. Official website bis. gov. uk/ Archived Website Precursor departments, Department for Business and Regulatory Reform Archived Website Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills Archived Website
5.
Research Councils UK
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It enables the Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of their research, training, and innovation. Research councils are non-departmental government bodies incorporated by Royal Charter, each is governed by its own governing council comprising a mix of academic and non-academic members, appointed by the Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills following a public nomination. The councils receive public funds from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, in 2008 the combined annual budget was £3.5 billion, of which over £1 billion went to research grants and training at universities. This is one element of the UKs dual system of research funding, Research Council grants support around 50,000 researchers through 18,000 grants at any one time. About 8,000 PhDs are awarded annually as a result of their funding, however, in the UK funding system only a few permanent institutes that require permanent infrastructure are directly controlled or core-funded by the Councils. Most funding is allocated competitively and few awards last more than ten years, Research council funding decisions are guided by the Haldane Principle, the idea that decisions are best made by researchers independently from government. Research council funding competitions use open peer review, there are seven Research Councils, The MRCs headquarters is in central London and the other six research councils and the RCUK operate from a single complex in Swindon. In 2007 the Government raised the status of the Technology Strategy Board to become, in effect, the TSB has set up its headquarters next door to the Swindon offices of the research councils. Government funding of science in the United Kingdom began in 1675 when the Royal Observatory was established in Greenwich. This trend continued in the 19th century with the creation of the British Geological Survey in 1832, by the First World War in 1915, claims about the poor state of British manufacturing compared to Germanys led to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It was a part of government, staffed by servants who distributed grants, operated laboratories. Examples included the Radio Research Station, established in Ditton Park in 1924, lord Hailsham dubbed this separation of duties as the Haldane principle in 1964 when he was Minister of Science, it has remained a guiding principle ever since. In 1931 the Agricultural Research Council was established by incorporating 12 major agricultural research institutes that had created in England. In 1949 Nature Conservancy was established as a Research Council in all, the National Research Development Corporation was also created to provide financial assistance for the development of inventions. In 1957 the National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science was formed to operate the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, to respond to this growth, in 1963 Sir Burke Trend chaired a committee to enquire into the organisation of civil science. Under the control of the Department of Education and Science, the Science & Technology Act of 1965 created both the Science Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC incoporporated the Nature Conservancy and British Geological Survey. In 1981, the emphasis in policy on innovation rather than pure science increased so the SRC became the Science, in 1983 the ARC also changed its focus to outputs rather than methods to become the Agricultural and Food Research Council. Given a lack of control over exchange rate fluctuations and the need to meet commitments, cuts regularly fell on the short-term grants
6.
International Astronomical Union
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The International Astronomical Union is an international association of professional astronomers, at the PhD level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy. Among other activities, it acts as the recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies. The IAU is a member of the International Council for Science and its main objective is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU maintains friendly relations with organizations that include amateur astronomers in their membership, the IAU has its head office on the second floor of the Institut dAstrophysique de Paris in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. The IAU is also responsible for the system of astronomical telegrams which are produced and distributed on its behalf by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the Minor Planet Center also operates under the IAU, and is a clearinghouse for all non-planetary or non-moon bodies in the Solar System. The Working Group for Meteor Shower Nomenclature and the Meteor Data Center coordinate the nomenclature of meteor showers, the IAU was founded on July 28,1919, at the Constitutive Assembly of the International Research Council held in Brussels, Belgium. The 7 initial member states were Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, the first executive committee consisted of Benjamin Baillaud, Alfred Fowler, and four vice presidents, William Campbell, Frank Dyson, Georges Lecointe, and Annibale Riccò. Thirty-two Commissions were appointed at the Brussels meeting and focused on topics ranging from relativity to minor planets, the reports of these 32 Commissions formed the main substance of the first General Assembly, which took place in Rome, Italy, May 2–10,1922. By the end of the first General Assembly, ten nations had joined the Union. Although the Union was officially formed eight months after the end of World War I, the first 50 years of the Unions history are well documented. Subsequent history is recorded in the form of reminiscences of past IAU Presidents, twelve of the fourteen past General Secretaries in the period 1964-2006 contributed their recollections of the Unions history in IAU Information Bulletin No.100. Six past IAU Presidents in the period 1976–2003 also contributed their recollections in IAU Information Bulletin No.104, the IAU includes a total of 12,664 individual members who are professional astronomers from 96 countries worldwide. 83% of all members are male, while 17% are female, among them the unions current president. Membership also includes 79 national members, professional astronomical communities representing their countrys affiliation with the IAU, the sovereign body of the IAU is its General Assembly, which comprises all members. The Assembly determines IAU policy, approves the Statutes and By-Laws of the Union, the right to vote on matters brought before the Assembly varies according to the type of business under discussion. On budget matters, votes are weighted according to the subscription levels of the national members. A second category vote requires a turnout of at least two-thirds of national members in order to be valid, an absolute majority is sufficient for approval in any vote, except for Statute revision which requires a two-thirds majority. An equality of votes is resolved by the vote of the President of the Union, since 1922, the IAU General Assembly meets every three years, with the exception of the period between 1938 and 1948, due to World War II
7.
Francis Baily
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Francis Baily was an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of Bailys beads during an eclipse of the Sun, Baily was also a major figure in the early history of the Royal Astronomical Society, as one of the founders and president four times. Baily was born at Newbury in Berkshire in 1774 to Richard Baily, after a tour in the unsettled parts of North America in 1796–1797, his journal of which was edited by Augustus de Morgan in 1856, Baily entered the London Stock Exchange in 1799. Later, in 1843, he would win the Gold Medal again and he was elected as President of the Royal Astronomical Society four times, with two-year terms each. No other person has served in the more than Bailys four times. The reform of the Nautical Almanac in 1829 was set on foot by his protests and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1832. His observations of Bailys Beads, during an eclipse of the sun on 15 May 1836, at Inch Bonney in Roxburghshire. In other work, he completed and discussed H, fosters pendulum experiments, deducing from them an ellipticity for the earth of 1/289.48. This value was corrected for the length of the seconds-pendulum by introducing an element of reduction. His laborious operations for determining the density of the earth, carried out by Henry Cavendishs method. Baily died in London on 30 August 1844 and was buried in the vault in St Marys Church in Thatcham. His Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed is of importance to the scientific history of that time. It included a republication of the British Catalogue, the lunar crater Baily was named in his honour, as was the rigid and thermally insensitive alloy used to cast the 1855 standard yard and a local primary school in his home town of Thatcham. Memoir of the late Francis Baily, monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Works written by or about Francis Baily at Wikisource Baily, Francis, map of Etoiles fixes Awarding of RAS gold medal,1827, MNRAS114 Awarding of RAS gold medal,1843, MNRAS5248 Archival material relating to Francis Baily
8.
George Airy
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Sir George Biddell Airy KCB PRS was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His reputation has been tarnished by allegations that, through his inaction, Airy was born at Alnwick, one of a long line of Airys who traced their descent back to a family of the same name residing at Kentmere, in Westmorland, in the 14th century. The branch to which he belonged, having suffered in the English Civil War, moved to Lincolnshire, Airy was educated first at elementary schools in Hereford, and afterwards at Colchester Royal Grammar School. An introverted child, Airy gained popularity with his schoolmates through his skill in the construction of peashooters. From the age of 13, Airy stayed frequently with his uncle, Arthur Biddell at Playford, Biddell introduced Airy to his friend Thomas Clarkson, the slave trade abolitionist who lived at Playford Hall. As a result, he entered Trinity in 1819, as a sizar, meaning that he paid a reduced fee, here he had a brilliant career, and seems to have been almost immediately recognised as the leading man of his year. In 1822 he was elected scholar of Trinity, and in the year he graduated as senior wrangler. On 1 October 1824 he was elected fellow of Trinity, and this chair he held for little more than a year, being elected in February 1828 Plumian professor of astronomy and director of the new Cambridge Observatory. In 1836 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1840, in 1859 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the Cambridge Observatory Airy soon showed his power of organisation, the only telescope in the establishment when he took charge was the transit instrument, and to this he vigorously devoted himself. Before long a mural circle was installed, and regular observations were instituted with it in 1833, Airys writings during this time are divided between mathematical physics and astronomy. In 1831 the Copley Medal of the Royal Society was awarded to him for these researches. One of the sections of his able and instructive report was devoted to A Comparison of the Progress of Astronomy in England with that in other Countries and this reproach was subsequently to a great extent removed by his own labours. One of the most remarkable of Airys researches was his determination of the density of the Earth. In 1826, the idea occurred to him of attacking this problem by means of experiments at the top. His first attempt, made in the year, at the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall. A second attempt in 1828 was defeated by a flooding of the mine, the experiments eventually took place at the Harton pit near South Shields in 1854.566. The currently accepted value for Earths density is 5.5153 g/cm³, in 1830, Airy calculated the lengths of the polar radius and equatorial radius of the earth using measurements taken in the UK
9.
Henry Thomas Colebrooke
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Henry Thomas Colebrooke FRS FRSE was an English orientalist and mathematician. He has been described as the first great Sanskrit scholar in Europe, Henry Thomas Colebrooke, third son of Sir George Colebrooke, 2nd Baronet, Chairman of the East India Company, and Mary Gaynor of Antigua, was born in London. He was educated at home, and when only fifteen he had made considerable attainments in classics and mathematics, from the age of twelve to sixteen he resided in France. In 1782 Colebrooke was appointed to a writership in India, about a year after his arrival there he was placed in the board of accounts in Calcutta, and three years later he was removed to a situation in the revenue department at Tirhut. He was sent to Nagpur in 1799 on a special mission, in 1805, Lord Wellesley appointed him honorary professor of Hindu law and Sanskrit at the college of Fort William. In 1807 he became a member of council and was elected President of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta and he returned to England in 1815. In 1823 he was a founder of the Royal Asiatic Society and he was a director of the society, and many of the papers in the societys Transactions were communicated by him. In 1822 he was elected the president of the Royal Astronomical Society. He translated the two treatises, the Mitacshara of Vijnaneshwara and the Dayabhaga of Jimutavahana, under the title Law of Inheritance. The Agriculture and Commerce of Bengal Bible translations into Persian Calcutta Kosha, Or Dictionary of the Sanscrit Language by Umura Singha with an English Interpretation, algebra, with Arithmetic and mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta. On the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, translated Mithakshara into English A posthumous essay on his fathers life was published by Sir T. E. Colebrooke in 1873 as part of a reprinting of Miscellaneous Essays. Colebrooke married Elizabeth Wilkinson in 1810, the marriage was short-lived and she died in 1814. Buckland, C. E. ed. Colebrooke, Henry Thomas in Dictionary of Indian Biography, also available online at, Colebrooke, Henry Thomas, archive. org. Life of Colebrooke in Frederick Max Müllers Chips from a German Workshop, also available here in reprint edition, Life of Colebrooke, archive. org. Higgenbothom, J. J. Colebrooke, Henry Thomas in Men Whom India Has Known, also available online, Colebrooke, Henry Thomas, archive. org. The Making of Western Indology, Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company, London, Routledge for the Royal Asiatic Society
10.
John Herschel
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Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH FRS was an English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer, who also did valuable botanical work. He was the son of Mary Baldwin and astronomer William Herschel, nephew of astronomer Caroline Herschel, Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus, Herschel was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, the son of Mary Baldwin and William Herschel. He studied shortly at Eton College and St Johns College, Cambridge and it was during his time as an undergraduate that he became friends with Charles Babbage and George Peacock. He left Cambridge in 1816 and started working with his father and he took up astronomy in 1816, building a reflecting telescope with a mirror 18 inches in diameter and with a 20-foot focal length. Between 1821 and 1823 he re-examined, with James South, the stars catalogued by his father. He was one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1831. He served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society three times, 1827–29, 1839–41 and 1847–49, a further complementary volume was published posthumously, as the General Catalogue of 10,300 Multiple and Double Stars. His views were published in an article entitled Light in 1828, the voyage to South Africa was made in order to catalogue the stars, nebulae, and other objects of the southern skies. This was to be a completion as well as extension of the survey of the northern heavens undertaken initially by his father William Herschel. He arrived in Cape Town on 15 January 1834 and set up a private 21 ft telescope at Feldhausen at Claremont, amongst his other observations during this time was that of the return of Comet Halley. Herschel collaborated with Thomas Maclear, the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, during this time, he also witnessed the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae. While in southern Africa, he engaged in a variety of scientific pursuits free from a sense of strong obligations to a larger scientific community. It was, he recalled, probably the happiest time in his life. Herschel used a camera lucida to obtain accurate outlines of the specimens, some 112 of the 132 known flower studies were collected and published as Flora Herscheliana in 1996. As their home during their stay in the Cape, the Herschels had selected Feldhausen, here John set up his reflector to begin his survey of the southern skies. — we must not impugn the Scripture Chronology, but we must interpret it in accordance with whatever shall appear on fair enquiry to be the truth for there cannot be two truths. And really there is enough, for the lives of the Patriarchs may as reasonably be extended to 5000 or 50000 years apiece as the days of Creation to as many thousand millions of years
11.
George Biddell Airy
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Sir George Biddell Airy KCB PRS was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His reputation has been tarnished by allegations that, through his inaction, Airy was born at Alnwick, one of a long line of Airys who traced their descent back to a family of the same name residing at Kentmere, in Westmorland, in the 14th century. The branch to which he belonged, having suffered in the English Civil War, moved to Lincolnshire, Airy was educated first at elementary schools in Hereford, and afterwards at Colchester Royal Grammar School. An introverted child, Airy gained popularity with his schoolmates through his skill in the construction of peashooters. From the age of 13, Airy stayed frequently with his uncle, Arthur Biddell at Playford, Biddell introduced Airy to his friend Thomas Clarkson, the slave trade abolitionist who lived at Playford Hall. As a result, he entered Trinity in 1819, as a sizar, meaning that he paid a reduced fee, here he had a brilliant career, and seems to have been almost immediately recognised as the leading man of his year. In 1822 he was elected scholar of Trinity, and in the year he graduated as senior wrangler. On 1 October 1824 he was elected fellow of Trinity, and this chair he held for little more than a year, being elected in February 1828 Plumian professor of astronomy and director of the new Cambridge Observatory. In 1836 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1840, in 1859 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the Cambridge Observatory Airy soon showed his power of organisation, the only telescope in the establishment when he took charge was the transit instrument, and to this he vigorously devoted himself. Before long a mural circle was installed, and regular observations were instituted with it in 1833, Airys writings during this time are divided between mathematical physics and astronomy. In 1831 the Copley Medal of the Royal Society was awarded to him for these researches. One of the sections of his able and instructive report was devoted to A Comparison of the Progress of Astronomy in England with that in other Countries and this reproach was subsequently to a great extent removed by his own labours. One of the most remarkable of Airys researches was his determination of the density of the Earth. In 1826, the idea occurred to him of attacking this problem by means of experiments at the top. His first attempt, made in the year, at the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall. A second attempt in 1828 was defeated by a flooding of the mine, the experiments eventually took place at the Harton pit near South Shields in 1854.566. The currently accepted value for Earths density is 5.5153 g/cm³, in 1830, Airy calculated the lengths of the polar radius and equatorial radius of the earth using measurements taken in the UK
12.
John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley
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John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley PRS FRAS was an English astronomer. Wrottesley was the son of John Wrottesley, 1st Baron Wrottesley and he succeeded his father in the barony on 16 March 1841. Wrottesley is distinguished for his attainments in astronomical science, was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1839 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his Catalogue of the Right Ascensions of 1,318 Stars and he was also President of the Royal Society from 1854 to 1858. The crater Wrottesley on the Moon is named in honour of John Wrottesley, lord Wrottesley died in October 1867, aged 69. On 28 July 1821 Wrottesley married Sophia Elizabeth, third daughter of Thomas Giffard of Chillington in Staffordshire, by her he had five sons and two daughters. His two youngest sons—Henry and Cameron—fell in action and he was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony by his son Arthur Wrottesley. George Wrottesley was his third son, awarding of RAS gold medal Obituary Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Lee, Sidney, ed. Wrottesley, John
13.
William Henry Smyth
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Admiral William Henry Smyth KFM DCL FRS FRAS FRGS FSA was an English naval officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist. He is noted for his involvement in the history of a number of learned societies, for his hydrographic charts, for his astronomical work. William Smyth was born at 42 Great Peter Street, Westminster and he was the only son of Joseph Smyth and Georgina Caroline Pitt Pilkington, granddaughter of the Irish writer Laetitia Pilkington and her husband Matthew Pilkington, both protégés of Jonathan Swift. William Smyths father, Joseph Brewer Palmer Smyth, was born in 1737 in New Jersey, Joseph was a colonial American and a merchant and land owner in Knowlton, Sussex, New Jersey. He was a British loyalist and in January 1777 he was commissioned as Lt in the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, however, he escaped to Niagara at the start of the American Revolution. In November 1778 he sailed for New York, but was captured and he eventually reached Falmouth, Cornwall, in January,1779 in a most forlorn condition, destitute and suffering from fever and smallpox. In 1780 he married Georgina Pilkington in England and he was in Niagara in 1788. William Smyth, his son, was born on 21 January 1788, williams half brother was the famous painter and traveller Augustus Earle. William Smyth married Eliza Anne Annarella Warington in Messina on 7 October 1815, Smyth and Annarella had eleven children between 1816 and 1835. Their three sons were Charles Piazzi Smyth, Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth and General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth. Of their eight daughters, two died young, a married and died aged 20, another also died at 20, unmarried. Their other three daughters were Henrietta Grace, who married Rev. Henry Toynbee and sailed out to Australia as a bride in 1855 and she died childless in 1881 aged 52 after a long illness. Smyth suffered an attack at his home near Aylesbury in early September 1865. On 8 September he showed the planet Jupiter to his grandson, Arthur Smyth Flower. He died a few later, in the early morning of the 9 September 1865. He was buried in the churchyard at Stone near Aylesbury, at the age of 14 Smyth ran away to join the merchant marine. In 1804 he was in the East India Companys ship Marquis Cornwallis, in February 1808 he followed Johnston to the Powerful, which, on returning to England, was part of the force in the expedition to the Scheldt, and was paid off in October 1809. Smyth afterwards served in the 74-gun Milford on the coast of France and Spain, in July 1811 he joined Rodney off Toulon, and through 1812 served on the coast of Spain
14.
John Couch Adams
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John Couch Adams FRS was a British mathematician and astronomer. Adams was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, the Cornish name Couch is pronounced cooch. His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position of Neptune, the calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranuss orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. At the same time, but unknown to other, the same calculations were made by Urbain Le Verrier. He was Lowndean Professor in the University of Cambridge from 1859 until his death and he won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866. In 1884, he attended the International Meridian Conference as a delegate for Britain, a crater on the Moon is jointly named after him, Walter Sydney Adams and Charles Hitchcock Adams. Neptunes outermost known ring and the asteroid 1996 Adams are also named after him, the Adams Prize, presented by the University of Cambridge, commemorates his prediction of the position of Neptune. His personal library is held at Cambridge University Library, Adams was born at Lidcot, a farm at Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, the eldest of seven children. His parents were Thomas Adams, a tenant farmer, and his wife. Tabitha was a daughter but had received a rudimentary education from John Couch, her uncle. John was intrigued by the books from an early age. John attended the Laneast village school where he acquired some Greek, from there, he went, at the age of twelve, to Devonport, where his mothers cousin, the Rev. John Couch Grylls, kept a private school. There he learned classics but was largely self-taught in mathematics, studying in the Library of Devonport Mechanics Institute and reading Reess Cyclopædia and Samuel Vinces Fluxions. In 1836, his mother inherited an estate at Badharlick. In October 1839 he entered as a sizar at St Johns College, graduating B. A. in 1843 as senior wrangler and first Smiths prizeman of his year. In 1821, Alexis Bouvard had published astronomical tables of the orbit of Uranus, subsequent observations revealed substantial deviations from the tables, leading Bouvard to hypothesize some perturbing body. Adams learnt of the irregularities while still an undergraduate and became convinced of the perturbation theory, on 3 July 1841, he noted his intention to work on the problem. After his final examinations in 1843, Adams was elected fellow of his college, while he worked on the problem back in Cambridge, he tutored undergraduates, sending money home to educate his brothers, and even taught his bedmaker to read
15.
Warren De la Rue
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Warren De la Rue was a British astronomer and chemist, most famous for his pioneering work in astronomical photography. He was born in Guernsey, the son of the founder of the firm of stationers of that name in London, Thomas de la Rue. In 1840, he enclosed a platinum coil in a tube and passed an electric current through it. Although it was an efficient design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use and his chief title to fame, however, is his pioneering work in the application of the art of photography to astronomical research. In 1851 his attention was drawn to a daguerreotype of the moon by G. P. Bond, shown at the great exhibition of that year. Regular work with this instrument, inaugurated at Kew by De la Rue in 1858, was carried on there for fourteen years, and was continued at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from 1873 to 1882. The years 1862–1866 were discussed in two memoirs, entitled Researches on Solar Physics, published by De la Rue, in conjunction with Professor Balfour Stewart and Mr B Loewy, in the Phil. He took some of the very first photos of the moon, in 1860 De la Rue took the photoheliograph to Spain for the purpose of photographing the total solar eclipse which occurred on 18 July of that year. This expedition formed the subject of the Bakerian Lecture already referred to, the photographs obtained on that occasion proved beyond doubt the solar character of the prominences or red flames, seen around the limb of the moon during a solar eclipse. In 1873 De la Rue gave up work in astronomy. Subsequently, in the year 1887, he provided the same observatory with a 13-inch refractor to enable it to part in the International Photographic Survey of the Heavens. He was twice president of the Chemical Society, and also of the Royal Astronomical Society and he died in London in 1889. He had married Georgiana, the daughter of Thomas Bowles of Guernsey, they had four sons. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1862, awarded the Royal Medal from the Royal Society in 1864. Awarded the Lalande Prize in 1866, the crater De La Rue on the Moon is named after him. Commander of the Legion of Honor, commander of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus. Knight of the Imperial Order of the Rose, works written by or about Warren De la Rue at Wikisource Media related to Warren De la Rue at Wikimedia Commons
16.
Charles Pritchard
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Reverend Charles Pritchard was a British astronomer, clergyman, and educational reformer. He founded the Clapham Grammar School in 1834 and included sciences in the curriculum, a chapel was erected in 1846. He was born at Alberbury, Shropshire and attended Poplar Academy where he was taught by John Stock, Pritchard later described his studies as consisting of a systematic course of instruction relating to physical phenomena. At sixteen he was enrolled as a sizar at St Johns College, Cambridge, in 1832 he was elected a fellow of his college, and in the following year he was ordained, and became head of a private school at Stockwell. From 1834 to 1862 he was headmaster of Clapham grammar school and he then retired to Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, and took an active interest in the affairs of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he became honorary secretary in 1862 and president in 1866. His sister, Margaret died this same year and his career as a professional astronomer began in 1870, when he was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford. By De la Rues advice, Pritchard began his career there with a determination of the libration of the moon. In 1882 Pritchard commenced a study of stellar photometry. For this purpose he employed an instrument known as the wedge photometer and he then decided to experiment with applying photography to the determination of stellar parallax. Pritchard became a fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1883, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1840, and in 1892 was awarded one of the royal medals for his work on photometry and stellar parallax. Occasional thoughts of an astronomer on nature and revelation Modern science, soc. liv.3 Astr. and Astrophysics, xii.592 J. Foster, Oxford Men and their Colleges, p.206 Hist. Register of the Univ. of Oxford, p.95 The Times C. J. Robinsons Register of Merchant Taylors School, ii.210 Charles Pritchard, memoirs of his Life, by Ada Pritchard. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Awarding of RAS gold medal Pritchard, Charles
17.
William Lassell
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William Lassell, FRS FRSE FRSL FRAS was an English merchant and astronomer. He is remembered for his improvements to the Reflecting telescope and his ensuing planetary discoveries, william Lassell was born in Bolton, Lancashire, a town west of Manchester. He was educated first in Bolton then at Rochdale Academy, after the death of his father, he was apprenticed from 1814 to 1821 to a merchant in Liverpool. He then made his fortune as a brewer, which enabled him to indulge his interest in astronomy. He built an observatory at his house Starfield in West Derby, there he had a 24-inch reflector telescope, for which he pioneered the use of an equatorial mount for easy tracking of objects as the Earth rotates. He ground and polished the mirror himself, using equipment he constructed, the observatory was later moved further out of Liverpool, to Bradstone. In 1846 Lassell discovered Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, in 1848 he independently co-discovered Hyperion, a moon of Saturn. In 1851 he discovered Ariel and Umbriel, two moons of Uranus, when Queen Victoria visited Liverpool in 1851, Lassell was the only local she specifically requested to meet. In 1855, he built a 48-inch telescope, which he installed in Malta because of the conditions that were better than in often-overcast England. On his return to the UK after several years in Malta he moved to Maidenhead, the 48-inch telescope was dismantled and was eventually scrapped. Lassell was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1839, won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1849 and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1849 and won their Royal Medal in 1858. Lassel was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Lassell died in Maidenhead in 1880. Upon his death, he left a fortune of £80,000 and his telescope was presented to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The crater Lassell on the Moon, a crater on Mars, the asteroid 2636 Lassell, Biography and other topics Short biography and pictures Biography and technical detail of telescopes
18.
Arthur Cayley
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Arthur Cayley F. R. S. was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics, as a child, Cayley enjoyed solving complex maths problems for amusement. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he excelled in Greek, French, German and he worked as a lawyer for 14 years. He postulated the Cayley–Hamilton theorem—that every square matrix is a root of its own characteristic polynomial and he was the first to define the concept of a group in the modern way—as a set with a binary operation satisfying certain laws. Formerly, when mathematicians spoke of groups, they had meant permutation groups, cayleys theorem is named in honour of Cayley. Arthur Cayley was born in Richmond, London, England, on 16 August 1821 and his father, Henry Cayley, was a distant cousin of Sir George Cayley the aeronautics engineer innovator, and descended from an ancient Yorkshire family. He settled in Saint Petersburg, Russia, as a merchant and his mother was Maria Antonia Doughty, daughter of William Doughty. According to some writers she was Russian, but her fathers name indicates an English origin and his brother was the linguist Charles Bagot Cayley. Arthur spent his first eight years in Saint Petersburg, in 1829 his parents were settled permanently at Blackheath, near London. Arthur was sent to a private school, at age 14 he was sent to Kings College School. The schools master observed indications of genius and advised the father to educate his son not for his own business, as he had intended. At the unusually early age of 17 Cayley began residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, the cause of the Analytical Society had now triumphed, and the Cambridge Mathematical Journal had been instituted by Gregory and Robert Leslie Ellis. To this journal, at the age of twenty, Cayley contributed three papers, on subjects that had been suggested by reading the Mécanique analytique of Lagrange, cayleys tutor at Cambridge was George Peacock and his private coach was William Hopkins. He finished his course by winning the place of Senior Wrangler. His next step was to take the M. A. degree and he continued to reside at Cambridge University for four years, during which time he took some pupils, but his main work was the preparation of 28 memoirs to the Mathematical Journal. Because of the tenure of his fellowship it was necessary to choose a profession, like De Morgan, Cayley chose law. He made a specialty of conveyancing and it was while he was a pupil at the bar examination that he went to Dublin to hear Hamiltons lectures on quaternions. During this period of his life, extending over fourteen years, at Cambridge University the ancient professorship of pure mathematics is denominated by the Lucasian, and is the chair that had been occupied by Isaac Newton
19.
William Huggins
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Sir William Huggins OM KCB PRS was an English astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife Margaret Lindsay Huggins. William Huggins was born at Cornhill, Middlesex, in 1824, in 1875 he married Margaret Lindsay, daughter of John Murray of Dublin, who also had an interest in astronomy and scientific research. She encouraged her husbands photography and helped to put their research on a systematic footing, on 29 August 1864, Huggins was the first to take the spectrum of a planetary nebula when he analysed NGC6543. Huggins was assisted in the analysis of spectra by his neighbour, Huggins was also the first to adopt dry plate photography in imaging astronomical objects. With observations of Sirius showing a redshift in 1868, Huggins hypothesized that a velocity of the star could be computed. Huggins won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1867 and he later served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1876 to 1878, and received the Gold Medal again in 1885. He served as an officer of the Royal Astronomical Society for a total of 37 years, Huggins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1865, was awarded their Royal Medal, Rumford Medal and Copley Medal and delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1885. He then served as President of the Royal Society from 1900 to 1905, for example, his Presidential Address in 1904 praised the fallen Fellows and distributed the prizes of that year. He died at his home in Tulse Hill, London, after an operation for a hernia in 1910 and was buried at Golders Green Cemetery, London,1906, The Royal Society, or, Science in the state and in the schools. 1909, The Scientific Papers of Sir William Huggins, edited by Sir William and Lady Huggins. London, Planetary nebula#Observations Works written by or about William Huggins at Wikisource Huggins, Sir William Barbara J. Becker William Wallace Campbell Sir William Huggins, Astronomical Society of the Pacific link from Internet Archive
20.
James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford
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James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres, FRS, FRAS was a British astronomer, politician, bibliophile and philatelist. A member of the Royal Society, Crawford was elected president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1878, the Earl was the son of Alexander the 25th Earl and his wife Margaret, born at St Germain in France. He was asthmatic and spent considerable periods at sea studying the more portable sections of the library which had been established by his father. Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay, married to Martha Cameron, daughter of American politician J. Donald Cameron, lionel Lindsay, married Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of Sir John Gordon Kennedy and Evelyn Adela Bootle-Wilbraham, had issue Crawford was interested in astronomy from an early age. Along with his father, he built up an observatory at Dun Echt. He employed David Gill to equip the observatory, using the best available technology, among his achievements, Gill later made the first photograph of the Great Comet of 1882, pioneering astrophotography and the mapping of the heavens. Crawford mounted expeditions to Cadiz in 1870, to observe the eclipse of the sun, India in 1871, to observe the eclipse of the sun, on the latter two expeditions Crawford employed London photographer Henry Davis, who in 1876 was appointed Crawfords personal librarian. Thanks to this donation, the new Royal Observatory, Edinburgh was opened on Blackford Hill in 1896, Alexander William Lindsay had been a book collector from his schooldays and so he continued. In 1861 he wrote to his son James a letter which describes his vision of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, by now it was 250 pages long and under the name of the Library Report it continued to be added to during their lifetimes. He based his plan on the Manuel of J. -Ch, the bulk of the library was kept at Haigh Hall in Lancashire with a part at Balcarres. The Earl issued a catalogue of the library in 1910, Catalogue of the Printed Books Preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan,4 vols. folio, Aberdeen University Press. Companion volumes to the record the royal proclamations and philatelic literature. The cataloguing and organisation of the library was a task for a team of librarians led by J. P. Edmond. The manuscript collections were sold in 1901 to Enriqueta Augustina Rylands for the John Rylands Library, other parts of the collections have since been donated to or deposited in national or university libraries, including the National Library of Scotland. In 1946 the deposited collections were distributed to the British Museum, Cambridge University Library, changes to these locations were made by later Earls of Crawford, apart from the Crawford family muniments those at the John Rylands Library were removed in 1988. Crawfords philatelic interests grew out of his work in extending the Lindsay familys library and he purchased a large collection of philatelic literature formed by John K. Tiffany of St. Louis, the first president of the American Philatelic Society. Tiffanys was already the worlds largest and most complete collection of philatelic literature, supplemented by purchases throughout Europe, eventually Crawfords collection was given to the Philatelic Section of the British Museum, in London. Crawford formed notable collections of the stamps of the Italian States, the Crawford Medal was established by the Royal Philatelic Society London in Crawfords honour for distinguished contributions to philately
21.
John Russell Hind
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John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD was an English astronomer. John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind, Hind remained there from 1840 to 1844, at which time he succeeded W. R. Dawes as director of the private observatory of George Bishop. In 1853 Hind became Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, a position he held until 1891, Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of asteroids. He also discovered and observed the variable stars R Leporis, U Geminorum, and T Tauri, Hind discovered Nova Ophiuchi 1848, the first nova of modern times. Hinds naming of the asteroid 12 Victoria caused some controversy, at the time, asteroids were not supposed to be named after living persons. Hind somewhat disingenuously claimed that the name was not a reference to Queen Victoria and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1863 and President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1880. He died in 1895 in Twickenham, London, Hind had married Fanny Fuller in 1846, he and his wife had six children. Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellow of the Royal Society The crater Hind on the Moon Asteroid 1897 Hind, details, MPC Comets C/1847 C1 and C/1846 O1. Some sources give his name as John Russel Hind with only one L. However, civil records, in the table of discovered asteroids, mpc links to the Minor Planet Center database for more information about the asteroid, along with the background on its name. Book, Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters By Steinicke, book, Everyday Biography, Containing a Collection of Brief Biographies Arranged. Page 120 very short bio University of Glasgow, Graduate Record Lists Hinds accomplishments and related info Nemiroff, R. Bonnell, J. eds
22.
James Whitbread Lee Glaisher
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James Whitbread Lee Glaisher FRS FRSE FRAS, son of James Glaisher, the meteorologist, was a prolific English mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Lewisham in Kent on 5 November 1848 the son of the eminent astronomer James Glaisher and his wife and his mother was a noted photographer. He was educated at St Pauls School from 1858 and he became somewhat of a school celebrity in 1861 when he made two hot-air balloon ascents with his father to study the stratosphere. He won a Campden Exhibition Scholarship allowing him to study at Trinity College, Cambridge, influential in his time on teaching at the University of Cambridge, he is now remembered mostly for work in number theory that anticipated later interest in the detailed properties of modular forms. He published widely over other fields of mathematics, Glaisher was elected FRS in 1875. He was the editor-in-chief of Messenger of Mathematics and he was also the tutor of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society 1886–1888 and 1901–1903, when George Biddell Airy retired as Astronomer Royal in 1881 it is said that Glaisher was offered the post but declined. He did not marry and lived on campus at Cambridge University and he died in his lodgings there on 7 December 1928. He was a keen cyclist but preferred his penny-farthing to the safety bicycles. He was President of Cambridge University Cycling Club 1882 to 1885 and he was a keen collector of Delftware and the university indulged him by allowing him a room of the Fitzwilliam Museum to house his personal collection
23.
William Christie (astronomer)
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Sir William Henry Mahoney Christie, KCB, FRS was a British astronomer. He was born in Woolwich, London, the son of Samuel Hunter Christie and educated at Kings College School and he was fourth wrangler in 1868 and elected a fellow of Trinity in 1869. Having been Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich from 1870 to 1881, he was appointed to replace George Airy as Astronomer Royal in 1881 and remained in office until 1910. He received the degree D. Sc. from the University of Oxford in June 1902 and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June,1881. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1888 to 1890, the first Astronomer Royal to retire at 65, Christie died and was buried at sea near Gibraltar in 1922. He had married in 1881 Mary Violette, daughter of Sir Alfred Hickman
24.
Edward Knobel
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Edward Ball Knobel was an English businessman and amateur astronomer. He was born in London, England and he started to study law but his love of geology made him change to the Government School of Mines in 1861. In 1862, he changed his career again, starting to work for Bass & Co. at Burton upon Trent as an analytical chemist in the brewery department and he rose to become a manager and Head Brewer. He then became a manager of a Courtaulds silk factory at Bocking in 1875 and his final position was with the Ilford Photographic Company. In 1872, he purchased an 8.5 inch reflecting telescope to further his interest in astronomy and his work on a publication about the chronology of star catalogues in 1875 let him to study the work of early Arab astronomers and learn some Arabic and Persian. In 1879 he published a translation of Ulugh Begs catalogue from a Persian manuscript and he then prepared a new edition of the star catalogue in the Almagest using all available sources in Greek, Arabic and Latin. After a long collaboration with C. H. F. Peters and he was President of both the British Astronomical Association and the Royal Astronomical Society. A crater on Mars was named in his honour, Royal Astronomical Society obituary from MNRAS91318
25.
William de Wiveleslie Abney
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Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, KCB, FRS was an English astronomer, chemist, and photographer. Abney was born in Derby, England, the son of Edward Abney vicar of St Alkmunds Derby and he attended Rossall School, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and joined the Royal Engineers in 1861, with whom he served in India for several years. Thereafter, and to further his knowledge in photography, he became an assistant at the Chatham School of Military Engineering. Abney was a pioneer of technical aspects of photography. His father had been an early photographic experimenter and friend of Richard Keene, Keene became a close friend of William and his brother Charles Edward Abney. Both Abney sons subsequently became members of the Derby Photographic Society in June 1884. His endeavors in the chemistry of photography produced useful photographic products and he wrote many books on photography that were considered standard texts at the time, although he was doubtful that his improvements would have a great impact on the subject. Abney investigated the blackening of a negative to incidental light, in 1874, Abney developed a dry photographic emulsion, which replaced wet emulsions. He used this emulsion in an Egyptian expedition to photograph the transit of Venus across the sun, Abney also introduced new and useful types of photographic paper, including in 1882 a formula for gelatin silver chloride paper. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876, Abney conducted early research into the field of spectroscopy, developing a red-sensitive emulsion which was used for the infrared spectra of organic molecules. He was also a pioneer in photographing the infrared solar spectrum and he became assistant secretary to the Board of Education in 1899 and advisor to that body in 1903. In 1900 he was Director of the Science and Art Department, Abney invented the Abney level, a combined clinometer and spirit level, used by surveyors to measure slopes and angles. He had married twice, firstly Agnes Matilda Smith, and secondly Mary Louisa Mead, W. de W. Abney, Instruction in Photography, London, published by S. Low, Marston & company,1900. A New Developer, Photographic News,1880,24,345, W. de W. Abney and E. R. Festing, Intensity of Radiation through Turbid Media, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Volume 40, pages 378–380,1886. W. de W. Abney and E. R. Festing, part III. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Volume 50, pages 369–372, 1891–1892. Abney effect Abney, William de Wiveleslie, techniques of Visual Representation in Research and Teaching, Oxford, OUP2002. online preview, search for Abney Elliot, Paul. The Firs,320 Burton Road, Derby, A nineteenth-century house, response, The University of Derbys Online Journal
26.
Andrew Ainslie Common
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Andrew Ainslie Common FRS was an English amateur astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astrophotography. Common was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne on 7 August 1841 and his father, Thomas Common, a surgeon known for his treatment of cataract, died when Andrew was a child, forcing him to go early into the world of work. In the 1860s he teamed up with an uncle in the engineering firm of Matthew Hall. In 1890 he retired from Matthew Hall, Andrew Ainslie Common died of heart failure 2 June 1903. Although Commons professional career was in the field of sanitary engineering, as a child Andrew showed interest in astronomy. At age 10 his mother borrowed a telescope for him to use from a local doctor and he returned to astronomy in his 30s when he took up experimenting with gelatin plate photography of the moon and planets with a 5.5 inch refracting telescope. In 1876 Common became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, about this time he also moved to Ealing outside London where he would live for the rest of his life operating an astronomical observatory from the back garden of his house. In 1877 and 1878 he published articles on his visual observations of the satellites of Mars. The 36-inch reflector In 1879 he bought a new 36-inch mirror from Calver to mount in a larger Newtonian reflecting telescope he was building. He used it to further observations of satellites of Mars and Saturn. With this instrument he also obtained a photograph of a comet in 1881, C/1881 K1 and his most notable work with this telescope were the long time exposures he made of the Orion Nebula between 1880 and 1884. His 1883 photograph of that nebula for the first time showed photographys ability to record stars and these pictures earned Common the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1884. Common eventually sold the 36-inch reflector to British politician Edward Crossley who gave it to Lick Observatory in 1895, the 60-inch reflector In 1885 Common embarked on building a 60-inch Newtonian reflecting telescope. He chose to buy the raw glass blank and do the grinding and polishing himself, the first mirror he made performed poorly, showing an elliptical deformation of the stars, causing him to fabricate a second mirror in 1890. After a near fall from the high staging needed to reach the Newtonian focus of the telescope Common decided to convert the telescope to a Cassegrain configuration for safer use. To avoid having to bore a hole in the 60 inch primary mirror he mounted a diagonal flat mirror just in front of it to bring the image out to a focus at the side of the telescope. After Commons death the telescope with its two 60 inch mirrors and other secondary optics was purchased from his estate and installed at the Harvard College Observatory, in the 1933 the primary mirror was re-figured and a new mount built. It was then set up as the 1. 5-meter Boyden-UFS reflector at Boyden Observatory in South Africa, Dr. Common was largely retired by 1890 and devoted himself full-time to optical design and construction until his death
27.
Robert Stawell Ball
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Sir Robert Stawell Ball FRS was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball and Amelia Gresley Hellicar, Ball worked for Lord Rosse from 1865 to 1867. In 1867 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, there he lectured on mechanics and published an elementary account of the science. In 1874 Ball was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin at Dunsink Observatory, balls treatise The Theory of Screws is now in the public domain. His work on screw dynamics earned him in 1879 the Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy, in 1882 Popular Science Monthly carried his article A Glimpse through the Corridors of Time. The following year it carried his article on The Boundaries of Astronomy. He was a fellow of Kings College, Cambridge and he was also President of the Mathematical Association in 1900. His work The Story of the Heavens is mentioned in the Ithaka chapter of Ulysses and his lectures, articles and books were mostly popular and simple in style. He died in Cambridge and was buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge and their children were, Frances Amelia, Robert Steele, William Valentine, Mary Agnetta, Charles Rowan Hamilton, and Randall Gresley. Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball by his son W. V, Ball was published in 1915 by Cassell & Company. Ball became celebrated for his lectures on science. He gave an estimated 2500 lectures between 1875 and 1910 in towns and cities across Britain and Ireland, in 1892,1898 and 1900 he was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture. Astronomy, Astronomy and Great Chapters from the Book of Nature, Works by Robert Stawell Ball at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Robert Stawell Ball at Internet Archive Works by Robert Stawell Ball at LibriVox G. L. Herries-Davies Sir R. S. Ball from Trinity College, Dublin Discoveries Robert Stawell Ball at Find a Grave
28.
George Darwin
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Sir George Howard Darwin KCB FRS FRSE was an English barrister, eugenicist, astronomer, and mathematician. George Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the son and fifth child of Charles Darwin. He graduated as second wrangler in 1868, when he was placed second for the Smiths Prize and was appointed to a college fellowship. He earned his M. A. in 1871 and he was admitted to the bar in 1872, but returned to science. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1879 and won their Royal Medal in 1884 and he delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1891 on the subject of tidal prediction. In 1883 Darwin became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and he studied tidal forces involving the Sun, Moon, and Earth, and formulated the fission theory of Moon formation. Darwin was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and won the Gold Medal of the RAS in 1892, from 1899–1901 he served as President of the RAS. The RAS founded a prize lectureship in 1984 and named it the George Darwin Lectureship in Darwins honour and he was an invited speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians 1908, Rome on the topic of Mechanics, Physical Mathematics, Astronomy. As President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, he gave the Introductory Address to the Congress in 1912 on the character of pure. George and Maud Darwin bought Newnham Grange, Cambridge in 1885, the Darwins extensively remodelled the house. Since 1962 the Grange has been part of Darwin College, Cambridge, Darwin married Martha du Puy, the daughter of Charles du Puy of Philadelphia, in 1884, his wife was a member of the Ladies Dining Society in Cambridge, with 11 other members. She died on 6 February 1947 and they had three sons and two daughters, Gwen Raverat, artist. Sir Charles Galton Darwin, physicist and applied mathematics, margaret Elizabeth Darwin, married Sir Geoffrey Keynes. William Robert Darwin Leonard Darwin Tides, Scientific papers, Figures of equilibrium of rotating liquid and geophysical investigations. Scientific papers, Periodic orbits and miscellaneous papers, Scientific papers Supplementary volume, containing biographical memoirs by Sir Francis Darwin and Professor E. W. Brown, lectures on Hills lunar theory, etc. The Scientific Papers of Sir George Darwin, Cambridge University Press On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage, The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXII, June/November 1873. Commodities Versus Labour, The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXII, the Birth of a Satellite Harpers Monthly Magazine, December 1903, pages 124 to 130. George Howard Darwin at the Mathematics Genealogy Project The Genesis of Double Stars – by George Darwin, from A. C. Sewards Darwin, archival material relating to George Darwin
29.
William Maw
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William Henry Maw was a British civil engineer and astronomer. Born into a family and orphaned at age 16, Maw was taken into the workshops of the Eastern Counties Railway as an assistant before progressing to the design office as a draughtsman. He was made the head of the office and designed the first outside cylinder locomotive for use in India, in 1865 he founded the journal Engineering and remained an editor for the rest of his life. He left the railway and became a consulting engineer his many works including printing presses for several newspapers and he was president of the Civil and Mechanical Engineers Society, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers. Maw was also an astronomer and was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society with a particular interest in double stars. He co-founded the British Astronomical Association for amateur astronomers and served as its treasurer and he later became a council member, treasurer and president of the RAS. During the First World War he served his country as a member for the Ministry of Munitions. Maw was born in Scarborough on 6 December 1838 into a family, his father was a captain of the Merchant Navy. He was privately educated at Sykes School in his hometown and it was there that he befriended Edward Harland who would later co-found the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding company. In 1853 his father was lost at sea, leaving the family without an income, his mother died shortly afterwards, in March 1855 he was taken on as an assistant first in the carriage and then the locomotive workshops of the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford Works. During this period he studied drawing at the Mechanics Institute, later to become Birkbeck College and he was so talented at drawing that in 1859, at the age of 21, he was made head of the office. In 1865 he left Eastern Counties and, with Zerah Colburn and he would remain an editor of the journal for the rest of his life. He was made a fellow of the RAS on 14 December 1888 and he co-founded the British Astronomical Association, an amateur astronomy association, and served as its treasurer from 1890 to 1913 and its president from 1898 to 1900. In 1892 he was elected as a member of the council of the RAS, serving as treasurer from 1900 to 1905, Maw was created an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Glasgow in 1909 for his contributions to mechanical engineering. He served upon the board of the National Physical Laboratory and on committees for the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War. He died at home on 19 March 1924 and was survived by his wife, Maw from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Librarys Digital Collections
30.
David Gill (astronomer)
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Sir David Gill KCB FRS FRSE was a Scottish astronomer who is known for measuring astronomical distances, for astrophotography, and for geodesy. He spent much of his career in South Africa, David Gill was born at 48 Skene Terrace in Aberdeen the son of David Gill, watchmaker and his wife Margaret Mitchell. He was educated first at Bellevue Academy in Aberdeen then at Dollar Academy and he spent two years at Aberdeen University, where he was taught by James Clerk Maxwell, and then joined his fathers clock-making business. It would seem that Gills interests lay elsewhere since after a few years he sold the business, in 1874, Gill joined the expedition to Mauritius to observe the transit of Venus. Three years later he went to Ascension Island to observe a near approach of Mars, Gill was a meticulous observer and had a flair for getting the best out of his instruments. His solar parallax observations with a heliometer and his calculations of distances to the stars, are testimony to his outstanding work. He recruited Robert Innes to the Cape Observatory, Gill used the parallax of Mars to determine the distance to the Sun, and also measured distances to the stars. He perfected the use of the heliometer and he was Her Majestys Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope from 1879 to 1906. He was a pioneer in the use of astrophotography, making the first photograph of the Great Comet of 1882, and one of the early proponents of the Carte du Ciel project. This led to a project in collaboration with the Dutch astronomer J. C. Kapteyn. The work was published as Cape Photographic Durchmusterung in 3 volumes between 1896 and 1900, Gill also played a leading role in the organising of the Carte du Ciel, an ambitious international venture aimed at mapping the entire sky. He initiated the idea of a survey along the 30th east meridian stretching from South Africa to Norway. Gill married Isobel Black in 1870, and she accompanied him to Ascension Island for his Mars observations, on Gills retirement in 1906, the couple moved to London, where Gill served for two years as president of the Royal Astronomical Society before his death in 1914. He was buried in the grounds of St Machars Cathedral, Aberdeen, a Determination of the Solar Parallax from Observations of Mars at the Island of Ascension. New International Encyclopedia A History and Description of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, heliometer observations for determination of stellar parallax made at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope
31.
Frank Watson Dyson
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Dyson was born in Measham, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, the son of the Rev Watson Dyson, a Baptist minister, and his wife, Frances Dodwell. They moved to Yorkshire in his youth, in 1894 he was given the post of Senior Assistant at Greenwich Observatory and worked on the Astrographic Catalogue, which was published in 1905. He was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1905 to 1910 and he also, in 1924, introduced the distribution of the six pips via the BBC. He was for several years President of the British Horological Institute and was awarded their Gold Medal in 1928, Dyson was noted for his study of solar eclipses and was an authority on the spectrum of the corona and on the chromosphere. He is credited with organising expeditions to observe the 1919 solar eclipse at Brazil and Principe, Dyson died on board a ship while travelling from Australia to England in 1939 and was buried at sea. The crater Dyson on the Moon is named after him, as is the asteroid 1241 Dysona, in 1894 he married Caroline Bisset Best, the daughter of Palemon Best, with whom he had two sons and six daughters. Frank Dyson and theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson are not related, inspired, Dysons first attempt at writing was a 1931 piece of juvenilia entitled Sir Phillip Roberts Erolunar Collision – Sir Philip being a thinly disguised version of Sir Frank
32.
Ralph Allan Sampson
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Prof Ralph Allan Sampson FRS FRSE LLD was an Irish-born astronomer. He was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, the fourth of five children to James Sampson, a Cornish-born metallurgical chemist, the family moved to Liverpool and Sampson attended the Liverpool Institute and then graduated from St. Johns College, Cambridge in 1888. In 1891 he was awarded a scholarship to carry out research at Cambridge University. In 1893 he was made Professor of Mathematics at Durham College of Science in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in December 1910 he became Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. He did pioneering work in measuring the temperature of stars. He did important research into the theory of the motions of Jupiters four Galilean satellites and he served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1915 to 1917. In June 1903 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1911 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Frank Watson Dyson, Sir James Walker, Arthur Robinson and he served as the Societys Vice President 1915 to 1918 and as Secretary 1922-23 and General Secretary 1923 to 1933. He won their Keith Prize for 1919-1920, at the fifth International Congress of Mathematicians held in 1912 in Cambridge, Sampson presented a paper entitled Some points in the theory of errors. He retired in 1937 aged 71 due to failing health, and he died in Bath, Somerset on 7 November 1939. In 1893 he married Ida Binney of St Helens, the Eclipses of Jupiters Satellites The Sun On Gravitation and Relativity Theory of the Four Great Satellites of Jupiter The crater Sampson on the Moon is named after him. MNRAS100 258–263 Obs 63105 Awarding of RAS Gold Medal, MNRAS88334 Awarding of RAS Gold Medal, Obs 5165 Entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronemers
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