Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Airy, George Biddell
AIRY, Sir George Biddell, K.C.B., F.R.S., the late Astronomer Royal, a native of Alnwick, Northumberland, born June 27, 1801, was educated at private schools at Hereford and Colchester, and at the Colchester Grammar School, whence he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1819. In 1822 he was elected Scholar, and in 1824 Fellow, of Trinity, having graduated B.A. in the previous year, when he came out senior wrangler. In 1826 he took his degree of M.A., and was elected Lucasian Professor. This office, rendered illustrious by having been filled by Barrow and Newton, had become a sinecure. No sooner was Professor Airy elected, than he resolved to turn it to account, and to deliver public lectures on Experimental Philosophy. He commenced this good work in 1827, and continued it to 1836, the series being known as the first in which the Undulatory Theory of Light was efficiently illustrated. In 1828 he was elected to the Plumian Professorship, and in that capacity was intrusted with the entire management of the Cambridge Observatory. On taking charge of this post he commenced a course of observations, and introduced improvements in the form of the calculation and publication of the observations, which have served as a pattern at Greenwich and other observatories. Professor Airy also superintended the mounting of the Equatorial, the Mural Circle, and the Northumberland Telescope (the last entirely from his own plans), at the Cambridge Observatory. When the question of admission of Dissenters to Academical Degrees was first raised about 1831, Mr. Airy was one of the sixty-three Members of the Senate who supported it. In 1835 he succeeded Mr. Pond as Astronomer Royal. In this capacity he distinguished himself by giving greater regularity to the proceedings in the Observatory at Greenwich, by maintaining the general outline of the plan which its essential character and its historical associations have imposed upon that institution, while he introduced new instruments and new modes of calculation and publication, by which the value of the Observatory to science is much increased. It is not our province to describe in detail the Transit Circle, the Altazimuth, the Reflex Zenith Tube, the Water-Telescope, and the large first-class Equatorial, erected from Sir G. B. Airy's plans, and under his superintendence. It is sufficient to say that the latter was, at the date of its erection, the most magnificent instrument of its kind in the world; though now surpassed in size by later instruments. A double-image micrometer, invented by him, has been found very valuable, for its accuracy and convenience. Sir G. B. Airy, who computed, edited, and published the observations of Groombridge, Catton, and Fallows, and reduced the Greenwich observations of planets and observations of the moon from 1750 down to the present time, has also thrown much light on ancient chronology, by computing several of the most important eclipses of former ages. Three times (viz., in 1842, 1851, and 1860) has he visited the Continent for the purpose of observing different solar eclipses; and on the last-named occasion he organised an expedition of English and foreign astronomers to Spain, which is known as the "Himalayan Expedition," from the name of the ship lent for the purpose by the Admiralty. Sir G. B. Airy has illustrated the Newtonian theory of gravitation, and approximated the great object of ascertaining the weight of the earth, by a series of experiments on the relative vibrations of a pendulum at the top and at the bottom of a deep mine (the Harton Colliery, near South Shields); has paid great attention to the testing and improvement of marine chronometers; and to the diffusion, by galvanic telegraph, of accurate time-signals. In 1838 he was consulted by the Government respecting the disturbance of the compass in iron-built ships, and the result of the experiments and theory developed by him on that occasion was the establishment of a system of mechanical correction by means of magnets and iron, which has since been adopted universally. He was chairman of the Commission appointed to consider the general question of standards, and of the Commission intrusted with the superintendence of the construction of new Standards of Length and Weight, after the great fire which destroyed the former national standards in the Houses of Parliament in 1834. The account of the proceedings on these occasions, published in the "Philosophical Transactions," is from his pen. He advocated the establishment of a decimal coinage and, acting as one of three Royal Commissioners on Railway Gauge, recommended the narrow as opposed to the broad gauge on our railways; conducted the astronomical operations preparatory to the definition of the boundary between Canada and the United States, and aided in tracing the Oregon boundary. Sir G. B. Airy contributed to the "Cambridge Transactions," "The Philosophical Transactions," "The Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society," the Philosophical Magazine, and the Athenæum (often under the signature of A.B.G.). In the Athenæum are several papers on antiquarian subjects, especially British. He also wrote strongly in the Athenæum and elsewhere in opposition to the legislation proposed by the University Commissioners in reference to his own university, and more especially to his own college. In 1869 he communicated a remarkable discovery to the Royal Astronomical Society, in a "Note on Atmospheric Chromatic Dispersion, as affecting Telescopic Observation, and on the Mode of Correcting it." He was intrusted with the entire direction of the British portion of the enterprise for observing the Transit of Venus in Dec. 1874; on the results of which a Report was communicated to the House of Commons in 1877. More recently he has suggested a new method of treating the Lunar Theory. He added to the original course of labours at the Royal Observatory a very complete system of magnetic, meteorological, photoheliographic, and spectroscopic observations. The principal works written by Sir G. B. Airy are, "Gravitation," for the Penny Cyclopædia, published separately; also, "MathematicalTracts" (fourth edition), "Ipswich Lectures on Astronomy" (fourth edition), "Treatise on Errors of Observation" (1861), "Treatise on Sound" (1869), "Treatise on Magnetism" (1870); also "Trigonometry," "Figure of the Earth," and "Tides and Waves," in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, since republished separately; and "Notes on the early Hebrew Scriptures." Sir G. B. Airy has received the Lalande medal of the French Institute, for discoveries in astronomy; the Copley medal of the Royal Society, for optical theories; the Royal medal of the same, for tidal investigations; the Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society on two occasions, for discovery of an inequality of long period in the movements of Venus and the Earth, and for reduction of the planetary observations; the Albert Medal, presented by the Prince of Wales; and the medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers for suggestions on the construction of bridges of very wide span. From the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh he has also received the honorary degrees of D.C.L. and LL.D.; he is a F.R.S., a Member of the Royal Astronomical Society, and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and an Honorary Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers; is one of the eight Foreign Associates of the Institute of France; and has long been connected, as Foreign Correspondent, with many other foreign academies. Appointed one of the first members of the Senate of the University of London, he soon after resigned the office. He served on the Royal Commission appointed in 1868 to inquire into the standard weights and measures; was nominated a Companion (Civil) of the Bath, May 17, 1871; and created a Knight Commander of the same order, July 30, 1872. On Dec. 1, 1873, Sir G. B. Airy resigned the position of President of the Royal Society which he had held for two years. He was honoured by admission to the freedom of the City of London in 1875; and he was elected a Foreign Associate of the Dutch Academy of Sciences in 1878. On his resignation of the post of Astronomer Royal in 1881 the Treasury awarded him a pension of £1100 per annum in consideration of his long and valuable services.