Autobiography of Sir George Biddell AiryAiry, George Biddell
Science
Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy
Airy, George Biddell
Airy, George Biddell, 1801-1892; Astronomers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Autobiographies; Royal Greenwich Observatory
"I beg to submit these remarks to your perusal, requesting you to
point out to me _what part_ of them should be laid before any of the
King's Ministers, _at what time, in what shape_, and to whom
addressed. I am quite sure that Mrs Pond's claims require nothing to
ensure favourable consideration but the impression of such a feeling
of Mr Pond's astronomical merits as must be entertained by any
reasonable astronomer; and I am most anxious to assist in conveying
this impression.
"Of private history: I went to Suffolk for a week on Mar. 25th. On
Sept. 19th my son Wilfrid (my fourth child) was born. In October I
made an excursion for a week round the coast of Kent. In November I
went to my brother's house at Keysoe in Bedfordshire: I was much
exposed to cold on the return-journey, which probably aggravated the
illness that soon followed. From Nov. 27th I was ill; made the last
journal entry of the year on Dec. 6th; the next was on Jan. 14th,
1837. I find that in this year I had introduced Arthur Biddell to the
Tithe Commutation Office, where he was soon favourably received, and
from which connection he obtained very profitable employment as a
valuer."
1837
"My connection with Cambridge Observatory was not yet finished. I had
determined that I would not leave a figure to be computed by my
successor. In October I had (at my private expense) set Mr Glaisher to
work on reducing the observations of Sun, Moon, and Planets made in
1833, 1834, 1835; and subsequently had the calculations examined by Mr
Hartnup. This employed me at times through 1837. I state here, once
for all, that every calculation or other work in reference to the
Cambridge Observatory, in this and subsequent years, was done at my
private expense. The work of the Northumberland Telescope was going on
through the year: from Nov. 24th to 29th I was at Cambridge on these
works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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