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
"An object-glass of 6-3/4 inches aperture (a most unusual size at this
time, when it was difficult to find a 4-inch or 5-inch glass) had been
presented to the Greenwich Observatory by my friend Mr Sheepshanks,
and on Mar. 29th I received from the Admiralty authority for mounting
it equatoreally in the empty South Dome, which had been intended for a
copy of the Palermo Circle.--In the month of July the Admiralty wished
for my political assistance in a Greenwich election, but I refused to
give any.--On Jan. 3rd I gave notice to the Admiralty that I had
finished the computations of Groombridge's Catalogue, and was ready to
print. The printing was authorized and proceeded (the introduction was
finished on Nov. 22nd), but the book was not quite ready till the
beginning of 1838.--In connection with the Cavendish experiment: on
June 10th I wrote to Spring Rice (Chancellor of the Exchequer) for
_£500_, which was soon granted: and from this time there is a great
deal of correspondence (mainly with Mr Baily) upon the details of the
experiment and the theory of the calculation.--On July 24th I saw the
descent of the parachute by which Mr Cocking was killed. I attended
the coroner's inquest and gave evidence a few days later.
"The Planetary Reductions from 1750 to 1830 had been going on: the
computers (Glaisher, Hartnup, and Thomas) worked in the Octagon Room,
and considerable advance was made.--In consequence of the agitation of
the proposal by Mr Lubbock to form empirical tables of the Moon, for
which I proposed to substitute complete reduction of the observations
of the Moon from 1750, the British Association at York (Oct. 23rd,
1837) appointed a deputation (including myself) to place the matter
before the Government. I wrote on the matter to Mr Wood (Lord Halifax)
stating that it would be proper to raise the First Assistant's salary,
and to give me more indefinite power about employing computers. In all
these things I received cordial assistance from Mr Wood. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Spring Rice) received us on Dec. 20th:
statements were furnished by me, and the business was sanctioned
immediately.--During this year I was very much engaged in
correspondence with Lubbock and others on improvements of the Lunar
Theory.
"In the operations of 1836 and 1837 a great quantity of papers had
been accumulated. I had kept them in reasonably good order, tied up in
bundles: but this method began to fail in convenience, as the number
increased. The great lines of classification were however now well
understood. I believe it was in the latter part of the year 1837 that
I finally settled on the principle of arranging papers in packets and
subordinate packets, every paper being flat, by the use of four
punched holes in every paper. I have never seen any principle of
arrangement comparable to this. It has been adopted with the greatest
ease by every assistant, and is used to the present time (1871)
without alteration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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