MacTutor
John Couch Adams
Times obituary
We regret to announce the death yesterday, at his official residence, after a long illness, of John Couch Adams, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, and, with the exception of Sir George Stokes, the senior professor at the University.
At a very early period of his career, Professor Adams came into peculiar relations with the late Astronomer Royal, Professor Airy, whose death we had so recently to record. Adams was born at Lidcot, near Launceston, in Cornwall, on June 5, 1819. He was educated first at the village school, and afterwards at Devonport, where he showed a great aptitude for mathematics and astronomy. In October, 1839, he entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduating in 1843 as Senior Wrangler and first Smith's prizeman. He was soon after elected to a Fellowship and became one of the mathematical tutors of his college. He at once devoted his undoubted genius as a mathematician to the solution of a problem that had attracted the attention of astronomers for some time, the irregularities in the motion of the planet Uranus, which was then the uttermost known planet in the solar system. Indeed so early as 1841. Adams seems to have formed the design which he ultimately carried out. The problem was one of infinite intricacy and delicacy, to discover the actual extent of this irregularity which could justly be set down to an unknown cause, and to say precisely what that unknown cause was, and where it was to be found. As Sir Robert Ball has put it in his article on Adams in the "Scientific Worthies" series in Nature, "To most of us it has seemed a thorny and difficult problem when the planet is given to find the perturbations; What are we to say of the difficulty of the converse problem, given the perturbations, and finding the planet?" This was the problem which Adams attacked and which he solved in about a couple of years. He communicated his solution, first to Professor Challis in September 1845 and afterwards to the Astronomer Royal, whose report on Uranus suggested the inquiry in October of the same year. The elements of the unknown planet whose influences were held to account for the disturbances in Uranus were so near the truth that if a search had been made with a large telescope in the direction indicated the planet could hardly have failed to be found. The Astronomer Royal was, however, somewhat incredulous and deferred his search for further explanations from Mr. Adams, which for some unexplained reason he did not receive. Meanwhile the planet, which had been in opposition about the middle of August, was lost in the rays of the sun and could not be seen before the following summer. It is certainly extraordinary that nothing was immediately published on the subject of Mr. Adams's labours, and no effort was made to secure his right to priority. Meantime, the great French astronomer Leverrier had begun the attack on the same problem a year later than Adams. In Adams's case, there was no delay in giving the results to the world. On June 1, 1846, Leverrier's elements of the planet were communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences. This was followed on August 31 by a second paper, and the coincidence of his results with those of Adams was so striking that Professor Challis, of Cambridge Observatory, began a vigorous search for the planet. Although adopting a tedious method, Professor Challis actually made observations of the planet as a star on August 4 and 12, 1846, but could not find time to reduce the observations. Meantime, on September 2 (before he knew of Leverrier's second paper), Mr. Adams communicated suggested to the Astronomer Royal a more precise solution to the problem. In the same September Leverrier wrote to Dr. Galle of Berlin, suggesting that he should try to find the planet on the basis of Leverrier's elements. This was done, and on September 23, 1846, Galle discovered the planet we know as Neptune, exactly on the spot where Leverrier told him he ought to find it. The news reached Professor Chalfis on October 1, 1846, and, on looking at the notes of his own observations, he found that he had actually been observing the planet two months before. Such, in brief, is the story of the discovery of Neptune, rightly regarded as one of the most brilliant triumphs of mathematical reasoning, and of the training of which the human mind is capable. It is certainly to be regretted that Adams was, by the doubts and procrastination of the Astronomer Royal, deprived of the full glory to which he was justly entitled. There can be no doubt that to all intents and purposes he made the theoretical discovery about a year before Leverrier; though, as the latter was the first to publish his results, he technically claims priority. It is a case analogous to the independent discovery of the theory of natural selection by Darwin and Wallace. Astronomers have always justly regarded Leverrier and Adams as the co-discoverers of the most remote known planet of the Royal Astronomical Society was conferred of the solar system, and as such the gold medal upon both on February 11, 1848. The words of Sir John Herschel, in his address on the occasion may appropriately be quoted:
As Mr. Adams had not taken holy orders, his Fellowship at St. John's expired in 1852, and he was elected to Pembroke in 1853. In 1858 he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at St. Andrews University, a position which he held only for a few months, when he was appointed to the Chair in Cambridge, which he filled during the remainder of his life. Professor Adams came even less before the public than the late Astronomer Royal. He was eminently quiet and unassuming, loved his university and his science, and spent the last 33 years of his life as an almost typical college don. Soon after his great discovery, several members of his college raised a fund with which to establish the Adams Prize, awarded every two years to the author of the best essay on some subject of pure mathematics, astronomy, or other branch of natural philosophy. In 1866 the Royal Astronomical Society again awarded him a gold medal for his lunar research In 1884 he was one of the British delegates to the Meridian Conference in Washington. It hardly needs to be said that he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of leading foreign scientific bodies. Both universities gave him honorary degrees. At Oxford he was a D.C.L.; at Cambridge, a Doctor of Science.
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PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO PROFESSOR ADAMS.
A meeting was held in the Combination Room of St. John's College, Cambridge, on Saturday afternoon to discuss a proposal for the provision of a national memorial to the late Professor Adams. The Master of the college (the Rev. Dr. Taylor) presided, and among those present were Dr. Peile (Master of Christ's and Vice-Chancellor), Dr. Ferris (Master of Caius), Dr. Porter (Master of Peterhouse), Mr. Aldis Wright (Vice-Master of Trinity), Dr. Forsyth, Professor Hughes, Dr. Hobson, Professor Tomson, Dr. Glashier, Dr. Frost, Dr. Sandys, Professor Mayor, and Sir Georgo G. Stokes, M.P.
The Master said that Professor Adams had memorials in Cambridge in the Adams Prize and his portraits at the college and at Pembroke. His own work was his monument in the annals of science They wished to commemorate his name and personality in the eyes of the world in that central sanctuary where, age after age, they commemorated their national types of various kinds of supreme excellence which were the glory of the world. The first suggestion of that came to him from Archdeacon Farrar, who said, "I think that a suitable memorial, such as a bust and a tablet with a small ingenious device, like that on Newton's tomb, would be very appropriate, and I feel no doubt it would be granted by the Dean and Chapter, in spite of the scant room in the Abbey." The suggestion had been mentioned at a college meeting and adopted by it, and they were met that day to carry it out. He thought the better method would be to form a large and influential committee containing the most prominent names in mathematics and science, which would enable them to show there was a general feeling in favour of it. Then he thought the request might be made to the Dean and Chapter, on behalf of the committee, by the Chancellor, the Duke of Devonshire, and in a letter which he had received from the Duke he stated that he should be very glad to give any assistance in his power to carry out the wishes of the committee. Among those who had agreed to join the committee were the Astronomer Royal, the Master of Trinity, Dr. Salmon (Provost of Trinity College, Dublin), the Master of Corpus, Mr. Justice Romer, Professor Jebb, Mr. Courtney, Lord Rayleigh, Professor Newton, the Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Professor Cayley, and Sir Donald Smith (Chancellor of Montreal University), who asked to be allowed to subscribe, £100.
Professor Living said he had received communications from the President of the Royal Association, Sir R. Ball, the Astronomer Royal of Ireland, Dr. Copeland, the Astronomer Royal of Scotland, and Mr. Norman Lockyer, expressing their willingness to join the committee.
The Master further stated that communications had been received from Oxford, where support was being given very heartily. He then read over the first motion: "That the late Professor John Couch Adams, by his discovery of the planet Neptune and other masterly work, published or unpublished, is entitled to be named among the great astronomers of the world; and that this meeting pledges itself (so far as it lies) to promote and carry out the scheme for placing a memorial to the late Professor in Westminster Abbey."
Sir G. G. Stokes, M.P., seconded the motion, which was supported by Dr. Glasier and Professor Living, and carried unanimously. The following resolutions were also carried:
"That the memorial consist of a bust with tablet and inscription."
"That a committee be formed (with power to add to their number) to carry out the scheme; that the Master of Pembroke College and Professor Living be the treasurers, and the Muster of Peterhouse, Dr. D. MacAlister, and Dr. Glashier the secretaries, and that such and such persons be the Executive Committee."
"That any surplus from subscriptions after payment of the necessary expenses be used in the first instance to defray the cost of presenting copies of the collected papers of Professor Adare to learned societies and libraries at home and abroad, and that the remainder (which, if of sufficient amount, shall be constituted a permanent monastic fund) be offered to the master and fellows of St. John's College to form an exhibition scholarship fund for the encouragement of the study of mathematics or physics by the undergraduate students of the College, such fund to be administered in such manner as the master and fellows may from time to time determine."
We regret to announce the death yesterday, at his official residence, after a long illness, of John Couch Adams, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, and, with the exception of Sir George Stokes, the senior professor at the University.
At a very early period of his career, Professor Adams came into peculiar relations with the late Astronomer Royal, Professor Airy, whose death we had so recently to record. Adams was born at Lidcot, near Launceston, in Cornwall, on June 5, 1819. He was educated first at the village school, and afterwards at Devonport, where he showed a great aptitude for mathematics and astronomy. In October, 1839, he entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduating in 1843 as Senior Wrangler and first Smith's prizeman. He was soon after elected to a Fellowship and became one of the mathematical tutors of his college. He at once devoted his undoubted genius as a mathematician to the solution of a problem that had attracted the attention of astronomers for some time, the irregularities in the motion of the planet Uranus, which was then the uttermost known planet in the solar system. Indeed so early as 1841. Adams seems to have formed the design which he ultimately carried out. The problem was one of infinite intricacy and delicacy, to discover the actual extent of this irregularity which could justly be set down to an unknown cause, and to say precisely what that unknown cause was, and where it was to be found. As Sir Robert Ball has put it in his article on Adams in the "Scientific Worthies" series in Nature, "To most of us it has seemed a thorny and difficult problem when the planet is given to find the perturbations; What are we to say of the difficulty of the converse problem, given the perturbations, and finding the planet?" This was the problem which Adams attacked and which he solved in about a couple of years. He communicated his solution, first to Professor Challis in September 1845 and afterwards to the Astronomer Royal, whose report on Uranus suggested the inquiry in October of the same year. The elements of the unknown planet whose influences were held to account for the disturbances in Uranus were so near the truth that if a search had been made with a large telescope in the direction indicated the planet could hardly have failed to be found. The Astronomer Royal was, however, somewhat incredulous and deferred his search for further explanations from Mr. Adams, which for some unexplained reason he did not receive. Meanwhile the planet, which had been in opposition about the middle of August, was lost in the rays of the sun and could not be seen before the following summer. It is certainly extraordinary that nothing was immediately published on the subject of Mr. Adams's labours, and no effort was made to secure his right to priority. Meantime, the great French astronomer Leverrier had begun the attack on the same problem a year later than Adams. In Adams's case, there was no delay in giving the results to the world. On June 1, 1846, Leverrier's elements of the planet were communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences. This was followed on August 31 by a second paper, and the coincidence of his results with those of Adams was so striking that Professor Challis, of Cambridge Observatory, began a vigorous search for the planet. Although adopting a tedious method, Professor Challis actually made observations of the planet as a star on August 4 and 12, 1846, but could not find time to reduce the observations. Meantime, on September 2 (before he knew of Leverrier's second paper), Mr. Adams communicated suggested to the Astronomer Royal a more precise solution to the problem. In the same September Leverrier wrote to Dr. Galle of Berlin, suggesting that he should try to find the planet on the basis of Leverrier's elements. This was done, and on September 23, 1846, Galle discovered the planet we know as Neptune, exactly on the spot where Leverrier told him he ought to find it. The news reached Professor Chalfis on October 1, 1846, and, on looking at the notes of his own observations, he found that he had actually been observing the planet two months before. Such, in brief, is the story of the discovery of Neptune, rightly regarded as one of the most brilliant triumphs of mathematical reasoning, and of the training of which the human mind is capable. It is certainly to be regretted that Adams was, by the doubts and procrastination of the Astronomer Royal, deprived of the full glory to which he was justly entitled. There can be no doubt that to all intents and purposes he made the theoretical discovery about a year before Leverrier; though, as the latter was the first to publish his results, he technically claims priority. It is a case analogous to the independent discovery of the theory of natural selection by Darwin and Wallace. Astronomers have always justly regarded Leverrier and Adams as the co-discoverers of the most remote known planet of the Royal Astronomical Society was conferred of the solar system, and as such the gold medal upon both on February 11, 1848. The words of Sir John Herschel, in his address on the occasion may appropriately be quoted:
M. Leverrier and Mr. Adams -- names which, as genius and destiny have joined them, I shall by no means put asunder; nor will they ever be pronounced apart so long as language shall celebrate the triumphs of science in her sublimest walks on the great discovery of Neptune, which may be said to have passed, by intelligible and legitimate means, the wildest pretensions of clairvoyance, it would now be quite superfluous for me to dilate. That glorious event and the steps which led to it, and the various lights in which it has been placed, are already familiar to every one having the least tincture of science. I will only add that as there is not, nor henceforth ever can be, the slightest rivalry on the subject between these two illustrious men -- as they have met as brothers, and as such will, I trust, ever regard each other -- we have made, we could make, no distinction between them on this occasion. May they both long adorn and augment our science and add to their own fame, already so high and so pure, by fresh achievements,Mr. Adams did much other brilliant and useful work during the remainder of his long career, but nothing so brilliant as this achievement, for which his name will ever live in the history of astronomy. Indeed, it may be thought that his career after this discovery was somewhat dis-though, considering the peculiar appointing; though, nature and somewhat narrow range of his genius, this attitude towards the Cambridge mathematician is unreasonable. He did abundant work in the more recondite mathematics, and rendered at least two other eminent services to astronomy. To him it is admittedly due that we now have an adequate theory of what is known as the secular motion of the moon, a phenomenon which the great Laplace endeavored to explain, but succeeded only partially. This was a subject to which Adams's peculiar mathematical genius was precisely adapted; and although his theory was vigorously attacked at the time, it may safely he said that it is now universally accepted, and has admittedly, besides explaining the lunar peculiarity, thrown considerable light on the theory of the tides. Still more trying perhaps was the problem which Adams set himself to solve in connection with the memorable shower of shooting stars that occurred in November 1866 and was known to recur about every 33 years. This particular swarm is known as the Leonids, and the problem was to find their orbit. Professor H. Newton of Yale had been working on it, but it remained for Professor Adams to give the precise solution, which he did in the Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society for April 1867. Into the other work of Professor Adams it is unnecessary to enter, his claim to fame rests on his discovery of Neptune.
As Mr. Adams had not taken holy orders, his Fellowship at St. John's expired in 1852, and he was elected to Pembroke in 1853. In 1858 he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at St. Andrews University, a position which he held only for a few months, when he was appointed to the Chair in Cambridge, which he filled during the remainder of his life. Professor Adams came even less before the public than the late Astronomer Royal. He was eminently quiet and unassuming, loved his university and his science, and spent the last 33 years of his life as an almost typical college don. Soon after his great discovery, several members of his college raised a fund with which to establish the Adams Prize, awarded every two years to the author of the best essay on some subject of pure mathematics, astronomy, or other branch of natural philosophy. In 1866 the Royal Astronomical Society again awarded him a gold medal for his lunar research In 1884 he was one of the British delegates to the Meridian Conference in Washington. It hardly needs to be said that he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of leading foreign scientific bodies. Both universities gave him honorary degrees. At Oxford he was a D.C.L.; at Cambridge, a Doctor of Science.
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PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO PROFESSOR ADAMS.
A meeting was held in the Combination Room of St. John's College, Cambridge, on Saturday afternoon to discuss a proposal for the provision of a national memorial to the late Professor Adams. The Master of the college (the Rev. Dr. Taylor) presided, and among those present were Dr. Peile (Master of Christ's and Vice-Chancellor), Dr. Ferris (Master of Caius), Dr. Porter (Master of Peterhouse), Mr. Aldis Wright (Vice-Master of Trinity), Dr. Forsyth, Professor Hughes, Dr. Hobson, Professor Tomson, Dr. Glashier, Dr. Frost, Dr. Sandys, Professor Mayor, and Sir Georgo G. Stokes, M.P.
The Master said that Professor Adams had memorials in Cambridge in the Adams Prize and his portraits at the college and at Pembroke. His own work was his monument in the annals of science They wished to commemorate his name and personality in the eyes of the world in that central sanctuary where, age after age, they commemorated their national types of various kinds of supreme excellence which were the glory of the world. The first suggestion of that came to him from Archdeacon Farrar, who said, "I think that a suitable memorial, such as a bust and a tablet with a small ingenious device, like that on Newton's tomb, would be very appropriate, and I feel no doubt it would be granted by the Dean and Chapter, in spite of the scant room in the Abbey." The suggestion had been mentioned at a college meeting and adopted by it, and they were met that day to carry it out. He thought the better method would be to form a large and influential committee containing the most prominent names in mathematics and science, which would enable them to show there was a general feeling in favour of it. Then he thought the request might be made to the Dean and Chapter, on behalf of the committee, by the Chancellor, the Duke of Devonshire, and in a letter which he had received from the Duke he stated that he should be very glad to give any assistance in his power to carry out the wishes of the committee. Among those who had agreed to join the committee were the Astronomer Royal, the Master of Trinity, Dr. Salmon (Provost of Trinity College, Dublin), the Master of Corpus, Mr. Justice Romer, Professor Jebb, Mr. Courtney, Lord Rayleigh, Professor Newton, the Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Professor Cayley, and Sir Donald Smith (Chancellor of Montreal University), who asked to be allowed to subscribe, £100.
Professor Living said he had received communications from the President of the Royal Association, Sir R. Ball, the Astronomer Royal of Ireland, Dr. Copeland, the Astronomer Royal of Scotland, and Mr. Norman Lockyer, expressing their willingness to join the committee.
The Master further stated that communications had been received from Oxford, where support was being given very heartily. He then read over the first motion: "That the late Professor John Couch Adams, by his discovery of the planet Neptune and other masterly work, published or unpublished, is entitled to be named among the great astronomers of the world; and that this meeting pledges itself (so far as it lies) to promote and carry out the scheme for placing a memorial to the late Professor in Westminster Abbey."
Sir G. G. Stokes, M.P., seconded the motion, which was supported by Dr. Glasier and Professor Living, and carried unanimously. The following resolutions were also carried:
"That the memorial consist of a bust with tablet and inscription."
"That a committee be formed (with power to add to their number) to carry out the scheme; that the Master of Pembroke College and Professor Living be the treasurers, and the Muster of Peterhouse, Dr. D. MacAlister, and Dr. Glashier the secretaries, and that such and such persons be the Executive Committee."
"That any surplus from subscriptions after payment of the necessary expenses be used in the first instance to defray the cost of presenting copies of the collected papers of Professor Adare to learned societies and libraries at home and abroad, and that the remainder (which, if of sufficient amount, shall be constituted a permanent monastic fund) be offered to the master and fellows of St. John's College to form an exhibition scholarship fund for the encouragement of the study of mathematics or physics by the undergraduate students of the College, such fund to be administered in such manner as the master and fellows may from time to time determine."
