Philosophy
John Goodricke
September 17th 1764 to April 20th, 1786
John Goodricke was deaf and an astronomer. It simply illustrates that many disabilities are not a liability.
Bill Ashworth wrote in the Linda Hall Library Newsletter...
John Goodricke, an English astronomer, died Apr. 20, 1786; he was 21 years old. He was also a deaf-mute. But in his short, silent life, he made quite a stir in astronomical circles. In 1783, he determined the period of a variable star, Algol, or beta Perseus, at just under three days. Even better, he suggested that the variability was caused by a dark planet that regularly passed in front of the star. The modern explanation is that Algol is a binary star, with the eclipse caused by the smaller star, rather than a dark planet, but Goodricke's mechanism was basically on target. The next year, Goodricke discovered that the delta star in Cepheus is also variable, with a period of just over 5 days. There is now a whole class of variable stars, the "delta Cepheids", or "Cepheids", that are very important in helping determine galactic distances; Harlow Shapley used Cepheids to estimate the size of our Galaxy in 1918. Recent research has shown that Goodricke was considerably aided in his discoveries by the suggestions of a close friend and colleague, Edward Pigott. Still, Goodricke’s success against all odds has ever since given strength to other scientists laboring under physical disabilities. There is a plaque in his honor at the Treasurer’s House in York, where Goodricke has his observatory, within sight of the great Gothic cathedral of northern England, York Minster.
John Goodricke [Wikipedia]
- Deceased--george Herbig
George Herbig January 2nd, 1920 to October 12th, 2013 "Astronomer George Herbig dies at age 93" Herbig was widely acclaimed for his pioneering studies of star formation and the properties and evolution of young stars. October 14th, 2013 University of...
- Clyde Tombaugh Anecdote
The Pluto building. "Astronomy lover reached for stars" July 31st, 2011 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company MIDWINTER nights on a mountaintop in Flagstaff could freeze an astronomer. On a January night in 1930, a young man fresh off the farm in Kansas...
- Cecilia Helena Payne-gaposchkin...the Sun
Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin May 10th, 1900 to December 7th, 1979 Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin was an English-born American astronomer who was the first to apply laws of atomic physics to the study of the temperature and density of stellar bodies,...
- "pickering's Harem" And Annie Jump Cannon
A print of this HCO photograph was found in an album that had once belonged to Annie Jump Cannon. The print was dated by tracing the HCO serial number on it to the record books in the Harvard College Observatory Collection of Astronomical Photographs....
- "the Day We Found The Universe"--h. Shapley & The Milky Way
The Day We Found the Universe ISBN-10: 0375424296 ISBN-13: 978-0375424298 "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Tell Me Are You Very Far?" by Joel Achenbach April 26th, 2009 The Washington Post Famous astronomy anecdote: It's 1923, and astronomer Harlow...
Philosophy
John Goodricke...disability--not a problem
John GoodrickeSeptember 17th 1764 to April 20th, 1786
John Goodricke was deaf and an astronomer. It simply illustrates that many disabilities are not a liability.
Bill Ashworth wrote in the Linda Hall Library Newsletter...
John Goodricke, an English astronomer, died Apr. 20, 1786; he was 21 years old. He was also a deaf-mute. But in his short, silent life, he made quite a stir in astronomical circles. In 1783, he determined the period of a variable star, Algol, or beta Perseus, at just under three days. Even better, he suggested that the variability was caused by a dark planet that regularly passed in front of the star. The modern explanation is that Algol is a binary star, with the eclipse caused by the smaller star, rather than a dark planet, but Goodricke's mechanism was basically on target. The next year, Goodricke discovered that the delta star in Cepheus is also variable, with a period of just over 5 days. There is now a whole class of variable stars, the "delta Cepheids", or "Cepheids", that are very important in helping determine galactic distances; Harlow Shapley used Cepheids to estimate the size of our Galaxy in 1918. Recent research has shown that Goodricke was considerably aided in his discoveries by the suggestions of a close friend and colleague, Edward Pigott. Still, Goodricke’s success against all odds has ever since given strength to other scientists laboring under physical disabilities. There is a plaque in his honor at the Treasurer’s House in York, where Goodricke has his observatory, within sight of the great Gothic cathedral of northern England, York Minster.
John Goodricke [Wikipedia]
- Deceased--george Herbig
George Herbig January 2nd, 1920 to October 12th, 2013 "Astronomer George Herbig dies at age 93" Herbig was widely acclaimed for his pioneering studies of star formation and the properties and evolution of young stars. October 14th, 2013 University of...
- Clyde Tombaugh Anecdote
The Pluto building. "Astronomy lover reached for stars" July 31st, 2011 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company MIDWINTER nights on a mountaintop in Flagstaff could freeze an astronomer. On a January night in 1930, a young man fresh off the farm in Kansas...
- Cecilia Helena Payne-gaposchkin...the Sun
Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin May 10th, 1900 to December 7th, 1979 Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin was an English-born American astronomer who was the first to apply laws of atomic physics to the study of the temperature and density of stellar bodies,...
- "pickering's Harem" And Annie Jump Cannon
A print of this HCO photograph was found in an album that had once belonged to Annie Jump Cannon. The print was dated by tracing the HCO serial number on it to the record books in the Harvard College Observatory Collection of Astronomical Photographs....
- "the Day We Found The Universe"--h. Shapley & The Milky Way
The Day We Found the Universe ISBN-10: 0375424296 ISBN-13: 978-0375424298 "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Tell Me Are You Very Far?" by Joel Achenbach April 26th, 2009 The Washington Post Famous astronomy anecdote: It's 1923, and astronomer Harlow...