John Goodricke
John Goodricke | |
---|---|
variable stars | |
Awards | Copley Medal (1783) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
John Goodricke FRS (17 September 1764 – 20 April 1786) was an English amateur astronomer. He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782.
Life and work
John Goodricke, named after his great-grandfather Sir John Goodricke 1617–1670 (see
After leaving Warrington, Goodricke returned to live with his parents in York. There, he became friends with his neighbour Edward Pigott, whose father Nathaniel Pigott had built a sophisticated private observatory. Edward was already interested in variable stars, and he gave Goodricke a list of those that he thought were worthy of observation.
Goodricke is credited with discovering the periodic variation of β Lyrae[2] and δ Cephei, the prototypical example of the Cepheid variable stars.[3]
Although several stars were already known to vary in
Goodricke in Yorkshire
Goodricke was buried at Hunsingore Church, then in West Yorkshire, along with many of his relatives.[5]
Today there is a marker in York near the site of John Goodricke's observatory.
In 1949, Sidney Melmore
Honours
Asteroid
The University of York has a Goodricke College named after John Goodricke.[9]
The Goodricke-Pigott Observatory is a private astronomical observatory in Tucson, Arizona, named after both Goodricke and Pigott. It was formally dedicated on 26 October 1996.[10]
References
- ^ BBC News Magazine (18 December 2012). "Disability history month: John Goodricke the deaf astronomer". BBC. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ISSN 0261-0523.
- S2CID 118155505.
- ^ "John Goodricke: The Discovery of the Occultating Variable Stars". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
- .
- Bibcode:1949Obs....69...95M.
- ^ French, Linda (2019). "Explaining Algol". Sky and Telescope. 137 (2): 36–40.
- ^ "IAU Minor Planet Center". minorplanetcenter.net. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "College History". Goodricke College. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ "Goodricke-Pigott Observatory". Archived from the original on 26 June 2020.
Further reading
- Gilman, Carolyn (1978). "John Goodricke and His Variable Stars". Sky and Telescope. 56 (11): 400–403. Bibcode:1978S&T....56..400G.
- Goodricke, John (1784). "On the Periods of the Changes of Light in the Star Algol. In a Letter from John Goodricke, Esq. to the Rev. Anthony Shepherd, D.D.F.R.S. Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 74: 287–292. .
- Goodricke, John; Englefield, H. C. (1785). "Observations of a New Variable Star. By John Goodricke, Esq.; Communicated by Sir H. C. Englefield, Bart. F. R. S. and A. S." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 75: 153–164. .
- Goodricke, John (1786). "A Series of Observations on, and a Discovery of, the Period of the Variation of the Light of the Star Marked δ by Bayer, Near the Head of Cepheus. In a Letter from John Goodricke, Esq. to Nevil Maskelyne, D.D.F.R.S. and Astronomer Royal". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 76. Printed by T.N. for J. Martyn and J. Allestyry, Printers to the Royal Society: 48–61. .
External links
- "Goodricke's life and astronomical work". Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2006. Features animations of different types of variable stars.
- Goodricke, Michael. "John Goodricke". Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- Anda, Rune. "Goodricke's handwritten letters and tables of observations". Retrieved 12 January 2019. Features scans of his notes retrieved from the York City Archives and other biographical information. Website in Norwegian, scans in English.
- John Goodricke at Find a Grave
- See also John Burnside's poem, 'Sense Data', a tribute to Goodricke in Burnside's collection, The Asylum Dance, Cape (2000)