George Airy Biography

Hannah Clode

Percival

Astronomy P.1

9 Jan. 2011

George Airy Biography

On July 27, 1801 in Northumberland, England, George Airy was born. George was born to family of farmers, and was soon made the eldest child after his mother had 3 more children following himself. George seemed to be a bit of a brat when he was young and did not make many friends because of this. In the early years of his youth, Airy grew fond of his uncle Arthur Biddell, a renowned farmer of the time. Airy’s father had just lost his job so; he decided to move in with his well-educated uncle since his current surroundings looked hopeless.

George attended the Cambridge University and in 1823 Airy graduated, surpassing many of his fellow classmates. Airy continued to study at the Trinity College in 1824. Airy was a very organized person throughout his entire life. During his life, he never threw out anything, old checks, notes, and letters. Airy consonantly kept a diary of almost every thought, jotting down different ideas that came to him throughout the day. Airy is also a man of persistence. Airy fell in love with Ricarda Smith, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Richard Smith after two days of seeing her. He asked of he could marry her, but her father said no. After six years of asking, the Reverend accepted his offer and allowed his daughter to be married off.

 In 1828, Airy became a professor and director of observatory at the Cambridge University. As a professor, Airy was one of the first to analyze the diffraction around a point of light when using a refracting telescope. The name for this phenomenon is stilled called an Airy disk. In 1835, Airy accepted the position of Astronomer Royal and moved to Greenwich. At the Royal Observatory, Airy helped with the transmission of telegraphs for the Post Office and railroads. In the 1850’s Airy became a government scientist that helped the government on a variety of issues; for example, working on topic like harbors, railway gauges, sewers, coinage, ordnance surveys, sale of town gas, and meteorology.

Airy is also associated with the discovery of Neptune. There are controversies whether Airy helped to find Neptune or if Airy withheld information causing a delay in finding the eighth planet. Many side with the fact the Airy contributed many calculations that helped to discover Neptune, since the discovery was based on the effects Neptune had on other celestial bodies. As Airy aged, his body slowly told him that it was time to retire. At eighty-five Airy’s eyesight deteriorated. This actually allowed Airy to discover the cure for astigmatism, corrective lenses. Airy was now just working on calculations for a theory and observations. At the age of 91, George Airy died on January 2, 1892. A crater on Mars has been named of Airy in honor of his contributions to astronomy.