Mathematician:George Biddell Airy

Mathematician

English mathematician and astronomer

Work on planetary orbits.

Measured the mean density of the Earth.

Devised a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics.

Established Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian.

It was alleged that, through his inaction, Britain lost the opportunity of priority in the discovery of Neptune.

English

Born: 27 July 1801 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England
1831: Received the Copley Medal from Royal Society of London
1834: Made chairman of the Commission set up to construct Standard Weights and Measures
1835: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1835: Appointed to the post of Astronomer Royal
1836: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London
1845: Received Royal Medal from Royal Society of London
1881: Retired from his post as Astronomer Royal
Died: 2 January 1892 in Greenwich, England

Definitions of concepts named for George Biddell Airy can be found here.

1825: Trigonometry
1826: Mathematical Tracts on Physical Astronomy
1828: On the Lunar Theory, The Figure of the Earth, Precession and Nutation, and Calculus of Variations
1834: Gravitation
1839: Experiments on Iron-built Ships, instituted for the purpose of discovering a correction for the deviation of the Compass produced-by the Iron of the Ships
1840: On the theoretical explanation of an apparent new polarity of light (Bakerian lecture to the Royal Society of London)
1861: On the Algebraic and Numerical Theory of Errors of Observations and the Combination of Observations
1866: Partial Differential Equations