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Abbe to Coombs Abbe, Cleveland (1838-1916): M.A. New York 1860.
Meteorologist. 1f Adams, John Couch (1819-1892): astronomer, and discoverer of the planet ‘Neptune,’ born at Lidcot, near Launceston, Cornwall. He read at an early age some books on astronomy inherited by his mother, established a sundial on the parlour window-sill, and observed solar altitudes with an instrument constructed by himself out of pasteboard. His education, begun at the village school of Laneast, was continued under his relative, John Couch Grylls, first at Devonport, later at Saltash and Landulph. All his spare time was given to astronomy. He studied the subject in the library of the Mechanics' Institute at Devonport, read Samuel Vince's ‘Fluxions,’ drew maps of the constellations, and computed celestial phenomena. His account of the partial solar eclipse of 15 May 1835, viewed at Stoke ‘with a small spyglass,’ got into print in the London papers; and after three weeks' watching he caught sight of Halley's comet on 16 Oct. 1835. The development of his genius for mathematics determined his parents to afford him a university career, and in October 1839 he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, as a sizar. He graduated in 1843 as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, and became shortly afterwards a fellow and tutor of his college. Adams refused knighthood in 1847, but the Adams prize, awarded bi-annually for the best essay in astronomy, mathematics, or physics, was founded in 1848, at the university of Cambridge, to commemorate his ‘deductive discovery’ of Neptune. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 7 June 1849. Adams was an unsuccessful candidate for the post of superintendent of the ‘Nautical Almanac,’ vacant by the death of William Samuel Stratford [q.v.] in 1853. His fellowship at St. John's expiring in 1852, he was elected in February 1853 to a fellowship of Pembroke College, which he held until his death. He occupied the chair of mathematics in the university of St. Andrews during the session of 1858-9, vacating it in consequence of his election, late in 1858, to succeed George Peacock [q.v.] as Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at Cambridge. His lectures in this capacity were generally on the lunar theory. Adams's new tables of the lunar parallax, communicated to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1852, were appended to the ‘Nautical Almanac’ for 1856. In 1853 he presented to the Royal Society a memoir on the secular acceleration of the moon's mean motion, demonstrating the incompleteness of Laplace's explanation of the phenomenon (Phil. Trans. cxliii. 397). This was highly displeasing to French geometers; but the attacks of Plana, Hansen, and Pontécoulant left unshaken conclusions which were independently verified by Delaunay, Cayley, and Sir John William Lubbock [q.v.]. Adams replied to objections in the ‘Monthly Notices’ for April 1860; Plana attempted a rejoinder in a series of letters to Sir John Lubbock in June; and Pontécoulant continued for some time longer to urge threadbare arguments in the ‘Comptes Rendus.’ An admirable account of the discussion was inserted by Delaunay in the ‘Connaissance des Temps’ for 1864. Adams refined his methods and improved his results in papers published in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ for January 1859 and in ‘Monthly Notices,’ June 1880. The final upshot was to reduce the value for lunar acceleration from 10² to about 6² a century. Other points connected with the lunar theory were treated of by him in separate memoirs presented at intervals to the Royal Astronomical Society. Adams presided over the Royal Astronomical Society for the terms 1851-3 and 1874-6. The Royal Society adjudged him the Copley medal in 1848. Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, of Edinburgh, Dublin, and Bologna. He was a corresponding member of many foreign societies, including the Academies of Paris and St. Petersburg. He declined the office of astronomer royal on Airy's resignation of it in 1881. In 1884 he acted as one of the delegates for Great Britain at the International Meridian Conference of Washington. He died after a long illness and was buried in Cambridge. A portrait medallion of him was placed in Westminster Abbey, close to the grave of Newton, and a bust was presented to St. John's College. Portraits of
him are in the combination rooms of St. John's and of Pembroke Colleges. A memorial tablet to him was erected in Truro Cathedral, and a bust, executed when he was a young man, stands on the staircase of the Royal Astronomical Society's rooms in Burlington House. A photograph of him, taken by Mrs. Myers four months before his death, was engraved in the ‘Observatory’ for April 1892. He married Eliza Bruce of Dublin, who survived him. The first volume of his ‘Scientific Papers’ was published in 1896 at the University Press, Cambridge, under the editorship of his youngest brother, Professor William Grylls Adams, F.R.S. A biographical notice by Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, and a steel engraving by Stodart from a photograph of Adams by Mayall, are prefixed. This volume includes all his published writings. A second volume containing those left in manuscript, so far as they could be made available for publication, appeared in 1901, edited by Prof. W. Grylls Adams and Mr. R. A. Sampson, M.A.
; H.M. Harrison,
Voyager in time and
Alnutt, John Frederick W. Died Saturday 27th January 1894.: 2f Atchison AT: 1f
Awdry, R. D. (fl.1887) The Under Secretary of State at the Colonial Office, sent
one tidal letter.
Bahhuge I Baird, Andrew Wilson (1842-1908):
He
sailed for Tidal
observations were only undertaken by the survey of Baird
was promoted captain on Meanwhile,
in 1876, Baird was at home, working out with assistance the results of his
observations in the In
July 1881 Baird was at FRGS
1882. After some eighteen months on furlough in Sir
George Darwin, who first made Baird’s personal acquaintance at Lord Kelvin’s
house in 1882, wrote of Baird’s tidal work on his death, ‘In science he has
left a permanent mark as the successful organiser of the first extensive
operations in tidal observations by new methods. The treatment of tidal
observations is now made by harmonic analysis in every part of the world, and
this extensive international development is largely due to the ability with
which he carried out the pioneer work in Besides
the works cited, Baird was author of articles on the Gulf of Cutch, Little Runn,
and Gulf of Cambay in the ‘Bombay Gazetteer’; ‘Notes on the Harmonic
Analysis of Tidal Observations’, published by order of the Secretary of State
1872; ‘Auxiliary Tables to facilitate the Calculations of Harmonic Analysis of
Tidal Observations’ 1897; ‘Account of the Spirit-Levelling Operations of the
Great Trigonometrical Survey of India’ British Association 1885. He was also
joint author with Sir George Darwin of a report on the results of the
‘Harmonic Analysis of Tidal Observations’ (Proc. Roy. Soc. March 1885; and
with Mr. Roberts of the Nautical Almanac Office of ‘Annual Tidal Tables of
Indian Ports’. [War
Office Records; India Office Records; The Times, 10 April 1908; Men and Women of
the Times, 1899; Proc Roy Soc 1908 Obit by Darwin; Proc Inst Civ Eng vol 172
part ii 1908; Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol 47 part ii 1878,
account of the tidal observations in the Gulf of Cutch, compiled by Captain J.
Waterhouse] R.H.V. He sent Ball, Sir Robert Stawell (1840-1913) Ball's association with the Royal College of Science came to an end in 1874, and thereafter his life was filled by two astronomical appointments: first (1874-1892), as Andrews professor of astronomy in the university of Dublin and royal astronomer of Ireland, and secondly (1892-1913), as Lowndean professor of astronomy at Cambridge, in succession to John Couch Adams [q.v.]. In choosing the subject of stellar parallaxes for investigation he was following in the footsteps of his predecessor at Dunsink, F. F. E. Brünnow. From 1880 onwards Ball's activity as a visual observer declined. His right eye, which first gave serious trouble in 1883, became quite useless within the next ten years and was removed in 1897; in the second place, other occupations began to take a larger share of his time. Between 1877 and 1906 he published no less than thirteen popular works on astronomy. Of these the most considerable and the most successful was The Story of the Heavens (first edition, 1886). He delivered courses of Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution. He was scientific adviser to the Irish Lights Board from 1882 till his death, and rarely missed the annual tour of inspection by the commissioners. Ball married Frances Elizabeth Steele. He wrote 1 tidal letter. Bashforth, Francis (1819-1912), ballistician, was born at Thurnscoe, near Doncaster. He was educated at Brampton Bierlow and afterwards at Doncaster grammar school, whence he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, as a sizar, in 1840. He was second wrangler in 1843, when John Couch Adams [q.v.] was senior wrangler. After taking his degree Bashforth spent three years in practical civil engineering, working partly in London and partly with one of the new railway companies which were then being formed throughout the country. He was engaged on the survey of projected lines, and in this way gained that practical experience in careful measurement which afterwards proved so valuable to him in his experiments in gunnery. Bashforth was anxious to obtain a post as professor of mathematics in the provinces, but such appointments were rare in those days. In 1864, however, he was appointed professor of applied mathematics to the advanced class of artillery officers at Woolwich, which afterwards developed into the Royal Artillery College. Bashforth married Elizabeth Jane Pigott. In 1908 he retired to Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, where he died. He wrote1 tidal letter.
Beyland C dew
Bolland GH Bonney, Thomas George (1833-1923), geologist, was born at Rugeley, Staffordshire. The family was of French Huguenot origin, but had long been settled in Staffordshire. During his boyhood Bonney showed an inclination towards natural science. On leaving Uppingham he proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he soon obtained a scholarship. He graduated in 1856 as twelfth wrangler. Shortly after, owing to a breakdown in health, he left Cambridge for a while, but a few months on the south coast and in the Alps restored him, and he became a mathematical master at Westminster School. In 1859 Bonney was elected to a fellowship at St. John's College, and in 1861 he returned to Cambridge as junior dean of his college, becoming tutor in 1868. In 1877 Bonney accepted the Yates-Goldsmid professorship of geology at University College, London, in addition to his work at St. John's College. In 1881, on being appointed assistant general secretary of the British Association, he left Cambridge, and went to live at Hampstead. He resigned his professorship in 1901 and returned to live in Cambridge in 1905, being a life fellow of St. John's. Although over seventy years of age, his scientific work was still in full activity, and its climax came in 1910 when he was elected president of the British Association for its meeting at Sheffield. His address dealt with the glacial history of the British Isles. Bonney held the Sc.D. degree of Cambridge University and the honorary D.Sc. degree of Dublin and Sheffield universities, and the honorary LL.D. of Montreal University: he was fellow and vice-president (1899) of the Royal Society, secretary and president (1884-1886) of the Geological Society of London, president of the Mineralogical Society and of the Alpine Club. He wrote1 tidal letter. Börgen, Carl Nicolai Jensen (1843-1909), Professor, of the Imperial German Marine Observatory at Wilhelmshaven. Took part in the two year expedition to Kerguelen for a transit of Venus. Wrote Die harmonische analyse, 1885 & Ueber die berechnung, 1892.:3f.
Braby EE
Cabert F
Campbell JD: 1f Cardew, Philip
(1851-1910), major R.E., born at Oakshade, near Leatherhead, Surrey. Educated at Guildford grammar-school, he passed first into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in
1868. At the end of 1876 he was transferred to Chatham. Cardew married Mary
Annunziata Parkyns . He wrote 2 tidal letters. Cayley, Arthur (1821-1895), mathematician, was born at Richmond in Surrey. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge. He selected law and was called to the bar on 3 May 1849. He was president of the British Association in 1883. He received honorary degrees from many bodies, among others from Oxford, Dublin, Edinburgh, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Leyden, and Bologna, as well as from his own university. From the Royal Society of London (of which he was elected fellow on 3 June 1852) he received a Royal medal in 1859 and the Copley medal in 1882, the latter being the highest honour which that body can bestow. In addition to membership of all the leading scientific societies of his own country, he was an honorary foreign member of the French Institute and of the academies of Berlin, Göttingen, St. Petersburg, Milan, Rome, Leyden, Upsala, and Hungary; and he accepted an invitation from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, to deliver a special course of lectures there, discharging this office between December 1881 and June 1882. His portrait hangs in the dining hall of Trinity college; and a bust was placed in the library of that college. Not less important were his contributions to the theory of analytical geometry, alike in regard to curves and to surfaces. He wrote two tidal letters.
Chadwick O
Chamberlin TC Chapman, Robert William (1866-1942) Born 27th December 1866 at Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire and died 27th February in Australia. In 1907 Chapman became the first Professor of Engineering at the University of Adelaide, he retired in 1937. Educated at the University of Melbourne. He wrote three tidal letters. Christie, Sir William Henry Mahoney 1845-1922, astronomer, was born at Woolwich 1 October 1845. He was the eldest son of Samuel Hunter Christie, professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and secretary of the Royal Society from 1837 to
1854, of Killarney. Educated at King's College, London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was fourth wrangler in 1868 and was elected a fellow of Trinity in 1869. In the autumn of 1870, on the recommendation of (Sir) George Biddell Airy, the astronomer royal, Christie was appointed chief assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Christie succeeded Airy as astronomer royal in 1881. A great addition to the buildings was made between 1890 and 1897 for the accommodation of the larger staff, the library, and workshop. Christie's term of office ended in October 1910, when he retired at the age of sixty-five. He served three times on the council of the Royal Society, of which he was elected a fellow in 1881. He was an honorary D.Sc. of Oxford University, and a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris and of St. Petersburg. He was created C.B. in 1897 and promoted K.C.B. in 1904.
Clark, John Willis (1833-1910), man of science and archæologist, born at Cambridge.In 1847 he entered Eton as an oppidan. His tutor was William Johnson (afterwards Cory) [q.v.]. In 1852 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1856. Clark married Frances Matilda Buchanan. The death of his wife in December 1908 inflicted a shock from which he never recovered, and he died at his home, Scroope House, in Cambridge. A portrait is in possession of the Amateur Dramatic Club. He wrote1 tidal letter.
Connor EJ
Coombs MA
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