AIRY
One hundred and sixty years from the day when Flamsteed laid the
foundation stone of the Observatory, the Royal Warrant under the
sign manual was issued, appointing the seventh and strongest of
the Astronomers Royal, August 11, 1835. He actually entered on
his office in the following October, but did not remove to the
Observatory until the end of the year.
GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY was born at Alnwick, in Northumberland, on
July 27, 1801. His father was William Airy, of Luddington, in
Lincolnshire, a collector of excise; his mother was the daughter
of George Biddell, a well-to-do farmer, of Playford, near Ipswich.
He was educated at the Grammar School, Colchester, and so
distinguished himself there that although his father was at this
time very straitened in his circumstances, it was resolved that
young Airy should go to Cambridge. Here he was entered as sizar
at Trinity College, and his robust, self-reliant character was
seen in the promptness with which he rendered himself independent
of all pecuniary help from his relatives. In 1823 he graduated as
Bachelor of Arts, being Senior Wrangler and Smith's prizeman,
entirely distancing all other men of his year. He had already begun
to pay attention to astronomy, at first from the side of optics,
to the study of which he had been very early attracted; a paper of
his on the achromatism of eye-pieces and microscopes, written in
1824, being one of especial value. In 1826 he attempted to determine
'the diminution of gravity in a deep mine'--that of Dolcoath, in
Cornwall. In the winter of 1823-24 he was invited to London by Mr.
(afterwards Sir) James South, who took him, amongst other places,
to Greenwich Observatory, and gave him his first introduction to
practical astronomy. In 1826 he was appointed Lucasian Professor at
Cambridge, and in 1828, Plumian Professor, with the charge of the
new University Observatory. Prior to his election he had definitely
told the electors that the salary proposed was not sufficient for
him to undertake the responsibility of the Observatory. He followed
this up by a formal application for an increase, which created not a
little commotion at the time, the action being so unprecedented; and
after a delay of a little over a year he obtained what he had asked
for. The delay gave rise, however, to the remark of a local wit,
that the University had given 'to Airy, nothing, a local habitation
and a name.'
[Illustration: GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY.]
The seven years which he spent in the Cambridge Observatory were
the best possible preparation for that greater charge which he was
to assume later. When he entered on his duties the Observatory had
been completed four years, but no observations had been published;
there was no assistant, and the only instruments were a couple of
good clocks and a transit instrument. But Airy set to work at once
with so much energy that the observations for 1828 were published
early in the following year, and he had very quickly worked out
the best methods for correcting and reducing his observations. In
1829 an assistant was granted to him, in 1833 a second, and in the
latter year Mr. Baldrey, the senior assistant, observed about 5000
transits, and Mr. Glaisher, the junior, about the same number of
zenith distances.
A syndicate had been appointed at Cambridge for the purpose of
visiting the Observatory once in each term, and making an annual
report to the senate. A smaller-minded and less acute man than
Airy might have resented such an arrangement. He, on the contrary,
threw himself heartily into it, and made such formal written
reports to the syndicate as best helped them in the performance
of their duty, and at the same time secured for the Observatory
the support and assistance which from time to time it required.
On his appointment to Greenwich, he at once entered into the same
relations to the Board of Visitors of that Observatory, and from
that time forth the friction that had occasionally existed between
the Board and the Astronomer Royal in the past entirely ceased. The
Board was henceforth no longer a body whose chief function was to
reprove, to check, or to quicken the Astronomer Royal, but rather a
company of experts, before whom he might lay the necessities of the
Observatory, that they in turn might present them to the Government.
Such representations were not likely to be in vain. For, as Mr.
Sheepshanks has left on record--
'When Mr. Airy wants to carry anything into effect by Government
assistance, he states, clearly and briefly, why he wants it;
what advantages he expects from it; and what is the probable
expense. He also engages to direct and superintend the
execution, making himself personally responsible, and giving
his labour gratis. When he has obtained permission (which is
very seldom refused), he arranges everything with extraordinary
promptitude and foresight, conquers his difficulties by storm,
and presents his results and his accounts in perfect order,
before men like ... or myself would have made up our minds
about the preliminaries. Now, men in office naturally like
persons of this stamp. There is no trouble, no responsibility,
no delay, no inquiries in the House; the matter is done, paid
for, and published, before the seekers of a grievance can find
an opportunity to be heard. This mode of proceeding is better
relished by busy statesmen than recommendations from influential
noblemen or fashionable ladies.'
His first action towards the Board was, however, a very bold and
independent one. He made strong representations on the subject of
the growth of the chronometer business, which proved displeasing
to the Hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, who was one of the official
visitors, and by his influence the report was not printed. Airy
'kept it, and succeeding reports, safe for three years, and then
the Board of Visitors agreed to print them, and four reports were
printed together, and bound with the Greenwich Observations of 1838.'
With the completion of arrangements which put the chronometer
business in proper subordination to the scientific charge of the
Observatory, Airy was free to push forward its development on the
lines which he had already marked out for himself. To go through
these in detail is simply to describe the Observatory as he left
it. Little by little he entirely renovated the equipment. Greatly
as Pond had improved the instruments of the Observatory, Airy
carried that work much further still. Though he did not observe
much himself, and was not Pond's equal in the actual handling of a
telescope, he had a great mechanical gift, and the detail in its
minutest degree of every telescope set up during his long reign was
his own design.
In the work of reduction he introduced the use of printed skeleton
forms, to which Pond had been a stranger. The publication of the
Greenwich results was carried on with the utmost regularity; and,
in striking contrast to the reluctance of Flamsteed and Halley, he
was always most prompt in communicating any observations to every
applicant who could show cause for his request for them.
It is most difficult to give any adequate impression of his
far-reaching ability and measureless activity. Perhaps the best
idea of these qualities may be obtained from a study of his
autobiography, edited and published some four years after his death
by his son. The book, to any one who was not personally acquainted
with Airy, is heavy and monotonous, chiefly for the reason that
its 400 pages are little but a mere catalogue of the works which
he undertook and carried through; and catalogues, except to the
specialist, are the dullest of reading. To enter into the details of
his work might fill a library.
[Illustration: THE ASTRONOMER ROYAL'S ROOM.]
As Astronomer Royal he seems to have inherited and summed up all
the great qualities of his predecessors: Flamsteed's methodical
habits and unflagging industry; Halley's interest in the lunar
theory; Bradley's devotion to star observation and catalogue
making; Maskelyne's promptitude in publishing, and keen interest
in practical navigation; Pond's refinement of observation. Nor did
he allow this inheritance to be merely metaphorical; he made it
an actual reality. He discussed, reduced, and published, in forms
suitable for use and comparison to-day, the whole vast mass of
planetary and lunar observations made at the Royal Observatory from
the year 1760 to his own accession, a work of prodigious labour,
but of proportionate importance. Airy has been accused--and with
some reason--of being a strong, selfish, aggressive man; yet nothing
can show more clearly than this great work how thoroughly he placed
the fame and usefulness of the Observatory before all personal
considerations. With far less labour he could have carried on a
dozen investigations that would have brought him more fame than this
great enterprise, the purpose of which was to render the work of
his predecessors of the highest possible use. The light in which he
regarded his office may best be expressed in his own words:--
'The Observatory was expressly built for the aid of astronomy
and navigation, for promoting methods of determining longitude
at sea, and (as the circumstances that led to its foundation
show) more especially for determination of the moon's motions.
All these imply, as their first step, the formation of accurate
catalogues of stars, and the determination of the fundamental
elements of the solar system. These objects have been steadily
pursued from the foundation of the Observatory; in one way by
Flamsteed; in another way by Halley, and by Bradley in the
earlier part of his career; in a third form by Bradley in his
later years; by Maskelyne (who contributed most powerfully both
to lunar and to chronometric nautical astronomy), and for a time
by Pond; then with improved instruments by Pond, and by myself
for some years; and subsequently, with the instruments now in
use. It has been invariably my own intention to maintain the
principles of the long-established system in perfect integrity;
varying the instruments, the modes of employing them, and
the modes of utilizing the observations of calculation and
publication, as the progress of science might seem to require.'
The result of this keen appreciation of the essential continuity
of the Astronomer Royalship has been that it is to Airy, more than
to any of his predecessors, or than to all of them put together,
that the high reputation of Greenwich Observatory is due. Professor
Newcomb, the greatest living authority on the subject outside our
own land--and other great foreign astronomers have independently
pronounced the same verdict--has said:--
'The most useful branch of astronomy has hitherto been that
which, treating of the positions and motions of the heavenly
bodies, is practically applied to the determination of
geographical positions on land and at sea. The Greenwich
Observatory has, during the past century, been so far the
largest contributor in this direction as to give rise to the
remark that, if this branch of astronomy were entirely lost, it
could be reconstructed from the Greenwich observations alone.'
Early in 1836 Airy proposed to the Board of Visitors the creation
of the Magnetic and Meteorological department of the Observatory,
and in 1840 a system of regular two-hourly observations was set
on foot. This was the first great enlargement of programme for
the Observatory beyond the original one expressed in Flamsteed's
warrant. It was followed in 1873 with the formation of the Solar
Photographic department, to which the Spectroscope was added a
little later.
Though he had objected strongly on his first coming to the
Observatory to the excessive time devoted to the merely commercial
side of the care of chronometers, yet the perfecting of these
instruments was one that he had much at heart, and many recent
appliances are either of his own invention or are due to suggestions
which he threw out.
Much work lying outside the Observatory, and yet intimately
connected with it, was carried out either by him or in accordance
with his directions. The transit of Venus expeditions of 1874, the
delimitation of the boundary line between Canada and the United
States, and, later, that of the Oregon boundary; the determination
of the longitudes of Valencia, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brussels,
and Paris; assistance in the determination of the longitude of
Altona--all came under Airy's direction. Nor did he neglect
expeditions in connection with what we would now call the physical
side of astronomy. On three occasions, 1842, 1851, and 1860, he
himself personally took part in successful eclipse expeditions. The
determination of the increase of gravity observable in the descent
of a deep mine was also the subject of another expedition, to the
Harton Colliery, near South Shields.
But with all these, and many other inquiries--for he was the
confidential adviser of the Government in a vast number of subjects:
lighthouses, railways, standard weights and measures, drainage,
bridges--he yet always kept the original objects of the Observatory
in the very first place. It was in order to get more frequent
observations of the moon that he had the altazimuth erected, which
was completed in May, 1847. This was followed, in 1851, by the
transit circle, as he had long felt the need for more powerful
light grasp in the fundamental instrument of the Observatory. The
transit circle took the place both of the old transit instrument and
of the mural circle. Above all, he arranged for the observations
of moon and stars to be carried out with practical continuity. The
observations were made and reduced at once, and published in such a
way that any one wishing to discuss them afresh could for himself go
over every step of the reduction from the commencement, and could
see precisely what had been done.
The greatest addition made to the equipment of the Observatory in
Airy's day was the erection of the 12-3/4-inch Merz equatorial,
which proved of great service when spectroscopy became a department
of the Observatory.
[Illustration: THE SOUTH-EAST TOWER.
(_From a photograph by Mr. Lacey._)]
So strong and gifted a man as Airy was bound to make enemies, and
at different times of his life bitter attacks were made on him from
one quarter or another. One of these, curiously enough, was from
Sir James South, the man who, as he said, first introduced him to
practical astronomy. Later came the discovery of Neptune, and Airy
was subjected to much bitter criticism, since, as it appeared on the
surface, it was owing to his supineness that Adams missed being
held the sole discoverer of the new planet, and narrowly missed
all credit for it altogether. Last of all was the vehement attack
made upon him by Richard Anthony Proctor, in connection with his
preparations for the transit of Venus. All such attacks, however,
simply realized the old fable of the viper and the file. Attacks
which would have agonized Flamsteed's every nerve, and have called
forth full and dignified rejoinders from Maskelyne, were absolutely
and entirely disregarded by Airy. He had done his duty, and in
his own estimation--and, it should be added, in the estimation of
those best qualified to judge--had done it well. He was perfectly
satisfied with himself, and what other people thought or said about
him influenced him no more than the opinions of the inhabitants of
Saturn.
But great as Airy was, he had the defects of his qualities, and
some of these were serious. His love of method and order was often
carried to an absurd extreme, and much of the time of one of the
greatest intellects of the century was often devoted to doing what
a boy at fifteen shillings a week could have done as well, or
better. The story has often been told, and it is exactly typical
of him, that on one occasion he devoted an entire afternoon to
himself labelling a number of wooden cases 'empty,' it so happening
that the routine of the establishment kept every one else engaged
at the time. His friend Dr. Morgan jocularly said that if Airy
wiped his pen on a piece of blotting-paper he would duly endorse
the blotting-paper with the date and particulars of its use, and
file it away amongst his papers. His mind had that consummate grasp
of detail which is characteristic of great organizers, but the
details acquired for him an importance almost equal to the great
principles, and the statement that he had put a new pane of glass
into a window would figure as prominently in his annual report to
the Board of Visitors as the construction of the new transit circle.
His son remarks of him that 'in his last days he seemed to be more
anxious to put letters which he received into their proper place for
reference than even to master their contents,' his system having
grown with him from being a means to an end, to becoming the end
itself.
So, too, his regulation of his subordinates was, especially in his
earlier days, despotic in the extreme--despotic to an extent which
would scarcely be tolerated in the present day, and which was the
cause of not a little serious suffering to some of his staff, whom,
at that time, he looked upon in the true spirit of Pond, as mere
mechanical 'drudges.' For thirty-five years of his administration
the salaries of his assistants remained discreditably low, and
his treatment of the supernumerary members of his staff would now
probably be characterized as 'remorseless sweating.' The unfortunate
boys who carried out the computations of the great lunar reductions
were kept at their desks from eight in the morning till eight
at night, without the slightest intermission, except an hour at
midday. As an example of the extreme detail of the oversight which
he exercised over his assistants, it may be mentioned that he drew
up for each one of those who took part in the Harton Colliery
experiment, instructions, telling them by what trains to travel,
where to change, and so forth, with the same minuteness that one
might for a child who was taking his first journey alone; and he
himself packed up soap and towels with the instruments, lest his
astronomers should find themselves, in Co. Durham, out of reach of
these necessaries of civilization.
A regime so essentially personal may indeed have been necessary
after Pond's administration, and to give the Observatory a
fresh start. But it would not have been to the advantage of
the Observatory, had it become a permanent feature of its
administration, as it militated--was almost avowedly intended to
militate--against the growth of real zeal and intelligence in the
staff, and necessarily occasioned labour and discomfort out of
proportion to the results obtained. Fortunately, in Airy's later
years, the extension of the work of the Observatory, a slight
failing in his own powers, and the efforts he was devoting to the
working out of the lunar theory, compelled him to relax something
of that microscopic imperiousness which had been the chief
characteristic of his rule for so long.
Airy had, in the fullest degree, the true spirit of the public
servant; his sense of duty to the State was very high. He was
always ready to undertake any duty which he felt to be of public
usefulness, and many of these he discharged without fee or reward.
So great an astronomer was necessarily most highly esteemed by
astronomers. He was President of the Royal Society for two years;
he was five times President of the Royal Astronomical Society,
and twice received its gold medal, beside a special testimonial
for his reduction of the Greenwich lunar observations. From the
Royal Society he received the Copley medal and the Royal medal,
beside honorary titles from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge,
and Edinburgh. So invaluable a public servant, he received the
distinction of a Knight Commandership of the Bath in 1872. He had
been repeatedly offered knighthood before, but had not thought it
well to receive it. He was in the receipt of decorations also from
a great number of foreign countries; for, for many years, he was
looked up to, not only by English astronomers, but by scientific men
in all countries, as the very head and representative of his science.
And he also received a more popular appreciation--and most justly
so. For whilst no one could have less of the arts of the ordinary
popularizer about him, no one has ever given popular lectures on
astronomy which more fully corresponded to the ideal of what such
should be than Airy's six lectures to working men, delivered at
Ipswich. And we may count the bestowal upon him of the honorary
freedom of the City of London, in 1875, as one of the tokens that
his services in this direction had not been unappreciated.
During the last seven years of his official career he undertook
the working out of a lunar theory, and, to allow himself more
leisure for its completion, he resigned his position August 15,
1881, after forty-six years of office. He was now eighty years of
age, and he took up his residence at the White House, just outside
Greenwich Park. He resided there till his death, more than ten years
later--January 2, 1892.
* * * * *
Airy was succeeded in the Astronomer Royalship by the present and
eighth holder of the office, W. H. M. CHRISTIE. He was born at
Woolwich, in 1845, his father having been Professor Samuel Hunter
Christie, F.R.S. He was educated at King's College, London, and
Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating as fourth Wrangler in 1868.
In 1870 he was appointed chief assistant at Greenwich, in succession
to Mr. Stone, who had become her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape,
and in 1881 he succeeded Airy as Astronomer Royal.
[Illustration: W. H. M. CHRISTIE, ASTRONOMER ROYAL.
(_From a photograph by Elliott and Fry._)]
During Mr. Christie's office, the two new departments of the
Astrographic Chart and Double-star observations have come into
being. The following buildings have been erected under his
administration: the great New Observatory in the south ground,
the New Altazimuth, the New Library, nearly opposite to it, the
Transit Pavilion, the porter's lodge, and the Magnetic Pavilion
out in the Park. Whilst in the old buildings the Astrographic dome
has been added, and the Upper and Lower Computing rooms have been
rebuilt and enlarged. As to the instruments, the 28-inch refractor,
the astrographic twin telescope, the new altazimuth, the 26-inch
and 9-inch Thompson photographic refractors, and the 30-inch
reflector are all additions during the present reign. Roughly
speaking, therefore, we may say that three-fourths of the present
Observatory has been added during the nineteen years of the present
Astronomer Royal. One exceedingly important improvement should not
be overlooked. Airy observed little himself whilst at Greenwich,
and had an inadequate idea of the necessity for room in a dome and
breadth in a shutter-opening. With the sole exception, perhaps, of
the transit circle, every instrument set up by Airy was crammed into
too small a dome or looked out through too narrow an opening. The
increase of shutter-opening of the newer domes may be well seen by
contrasting, say, the old altazimuth or the Sheepshanks dome with
that of the astrographic. This reform has had much to do with the
success of later work.