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.'
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.
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 123/4-inch Merz equatorial, which proved of great service when spectroscopy became a department of the Observatory.
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.
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.