SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY

British Astronomer

Airy was born in Alnwick in the north-east of England. His father was a tax collector. He studied in Colchester School before going to Cambridge University in 1819. He became Lucasion Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1826, and became Plumian Professor of Astronomy after two years. In 1835, he was appointed as Astronomer Royal, a post he held for 46 years. He was awarded the Copley medal and Royal medal by the Royal Society and was its president from 1827 to 1883.

When Airy was director of the Cambridge Observatory, he introduced a much improved system of meridian observations and set the example of reducing them in scale before publishing them.

He re-equipped the observatory, installing an altazimuth for lunar observation in 1847, a new transit circle and 33 cm equatorial telescope in 1859. He also created (a new department) magnetic and meteorological department in 1838, began spectroscopic investigations in 1868 and started keeping a daily record of Sunspots with the Kew observatory heliograph in 1873.

He was also responsible for establishing the border between Canada and United States and later of the Oregon and Maine boundaries.

JOHN COUCH ADAMS

British Astronomer

Adams was born in the small Cornish town of Launceston, where his father was a tenant farmer. He graduated in 1843 from Cambridge University and became Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry in 1858. In 1860, he was appointed director of the Cambridge Observatory.

His fame rests largely on the dramatic events surrounding the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, independently of Leverrier, the French astronomer. Adam's calculations, however, were ignored by Airy until Leverrier had published his own prediction. Later, James Challis and John Herchel were publicly pointed out that Adam's work had priority over Leverrier.

Adams later worked on the perturbations of the planets (1866), and on the secular variation of the mean motion of the Moon (1852), both difficult questions of mathematical astronomy. His scientific papers were published by his brother in two volumes in 1876 and 1901.