Airy, George Biddell (1801–1892)
English astronomer, born in Alnwick, Northumberland, who graduated head
of his class from Cambridge in 1823 shortly after devising a way to correct
astigmatism – a condition from
which he personally suffered. In 1826 Airy was appointed Lucasian Professor
of Mathematics (Newton's old position) at Cambridge, and, two years later,
Plumian Professor of Astronomy. As the seventh Astronomer
Royal (1835–1881) he turned the Royal
Greenwich Observatory into a model of efficiency and a leading center
for positional astronomy; the transit
telescope he installed defines the location of 0° longitude on Earth.
However, Airy's arrogance and disinterest in basic research held up the
confirmation of an eighth planet (Neptune)
based on predictions by John Adams and also left
Greenwich a late-starter in the fields of spectroscopy and astrophysics.
His precision, to the point of pedantry, extended to his labeling empty
boxes "empty."
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• ASTRONOMERS
AND ASTROPHYSICISTS
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