George Airy English mathematician and astronomer Date of Birth: 27.07.1801 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Sir George Biddell Airy

Sir George Biddell Airy was born in 1801 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England, into a family with an impressive pedigree. He received his education first at Hertford Grammar School and then at Colchester Royal Grammar School. Despite being an introverted child, George was respected by his peers for his skill in making toy weapons.

After graduating from Trinity College at the University of Cambridge in 1823, George began his career at the same university. He initially worked as a mathematics professor and later became a professor of astronomy and the director of the Cambridge Observatory. In 1836, Airy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1840, he became a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

George Airy is best known for his contributions to celestial mechanics, practical astronomy, and optics. He was the first to discover the phenomenon of astigmatism in the human eye and proposed special cylindrical-conical lenses for its correction.

In June 1835, Airy was appointed as the Astronomer Royal. In 1836, he developed the modern theory of rainbows. In 1847, he reworked and improved Pierre-Simon Laplace's theory of tides. In 1855, Airy was able to determine the density and mass of the Earth using a pendulum, and in 1886, he proposed a new method for correcting the theory of lunar motion.

In 1839, George Airy invented a compensator for ship compasses and developed a method for studying pivot bearings, which later became known as the "Airy method." He also found a new inequality in the motions of Venus and Earth and improved solar tables.

Airy played a significant role in the development of the Greenwich Observatory, revolutionizing both observation techniques and data processing.

In his personal life, George Airy was married to Richarda Smith, and they had nine children, three of whom died in infancy.

Sir George Biddell Airy retired in 1881 and settled near Greenwich. In 1891, he suffered a fall that resulted in numerous injuries.

He passed away on January 2, 1892, and was buried in Playford, Suffolk.

Among his many honors, Airy received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Copley Medal.