George Biddell Airy
Also known as George Airy, Sir George Biddell Airy, Sir G. B. Airy
English mathematician and astronomer (*1801 – †1892)
AI overview
George Biddell Airy was a prominent English mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1801 to 1892 and made significant contributions to both fields during the 19th century. His work helped advance scientific understanding during a period of major developments in mathematics and astronomy.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1801
- Died
- 1892
- Works
- 156
Top works
- The invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar
- Mathematical tracts on physical astronomy, the figure of the earth, precession and nutation, and the calculus of variations
- Abriss einer Geschichte der Astronomie im Anfange des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (1800-1832)
- Astronomical observations made by George Biddell Airy
- Popular astronomy
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Quotes
- “"On the Diffraction of an Object-glass with Circular Aperture" read (Nov. 24, 1834) Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (1835) Vol. 5, p. 283.”
- “In the hands of Science and indomitable energy, results the most gigantic and absorbing may be wrought out by skilful combinations of acknowledged data and the simplest means.”
- “[T]his Fifth Edition is required to meet the demand of a somewhat wider class of students than those for whom the Lectures were originally intended. ...Mr. Stirling has been at liberty to prepare the modifications and additions ...”
- “In the application of the ordinary principles of geometry and trigonometry to such Astronomical measures... it may sometimes be expedient to resolve the process into several successive steps, and these steps may perhaps require different kinds of treatment. But... all are simple and within ordinary comprehension, and the only complexity arises from the circumstance that the student may find it necessary to have a clear view of several such steps at once...”
- “I had long wished for some opportunity of endeavouring to explain... the principles on which the instruments of an Observatory are constructed, (omitting all details, so far as they are merely subsidiary,) and the principles on which the observations made with these instruments are treated...Such an opportunity appeared to present itself in the course of Lectures which I engaged to give to the Members of the and their friends.”
Article
Sir George Biddell Airy (/ˈɛəri/; 27 July 1801 – 2 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, as well as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 to 1828 and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the Earth, a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics and, in his role as Astronomer Royal, establishing Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian.
Biography
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1801 births1892 deaths19th-century British knights19th-century English astronomersAiry familyAlumni of Trinity College, CambridgeAstronomers RoyalBritish fellows of the Royal SocietyCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesFellows of Trinity College, CambridgeForeign associates of the National Academy of Sciences