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224:"Hornsby, Thomas (1733â1810), astronomer, the son of Thomas Hornsby (bap. 1704, d. 1771), an apothecary and later alderman, and his wife, Thomasine Forster, nÊe Coulson (bap. 1705, d. 1775), was baptized in the parish of St Nicholas, Durham, on 27 August 1733. Hornsby died in Oxford on 11 April 1810, and was buried at St Giles' there on 19 April."
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His death announcement in the
Kentish Gazette 24 April 1810 quotes his death as "Wednesday (11th Apr. 1810) at the Observatory Oxford, aged 76, the Rev. Thomas Hornsby D.D. & F.R.S. Savalian Professor of Astronomy, Professor of Natural Philosophy, & Librarian of the Radcliffe
198:, both close to the modern values, whose combination of visual magnitude and large proper motion led Hornsby to argue (incorrectly) that "We may, I think, fairly conclude that Arcturus is the nearest Star to our System visible in this Hemisphere".
115:
Despite the international efforts made to observe the 1761 transit, poor weather conditions hampered observations. In 1766 Hornsby informed the Royal
Society that preparations needed to begin for the 1769 transit, his publication in the
144:(1765); a description of organising and reporting observing groups in Oxford (1769); and a comparative analysis of the 1769 transit (1771). Using the solar parallax values obtained from the 1769 transit, he wrote in
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152:-based value used today for the astronomical unit is 92,955,000 miles (149,597,000 km). This is only a difference of eight-tenths of one percent. The work was within the bounds of the
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distances to the sun, ~95 million miles and ~91 million miles respectively. These results have been described as "absolutely remarkable" considering what the astronomers had to work with.
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Hornsby made tens of thousands of astronomical observations. These were not published, however, until 1932, and were donated to
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focusing attention on the "cone of visibility" indicating some of the better places to observe the transit.
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December 1771 that "the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun (is) 93,726,900 English miles." The
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Stephen
Johnston, "Blast from the Past: Measurement and morals in the early Transits of Venus,"
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at Oxford in 1772, and was made
Radcliffe Observer in the same year. In 1782, he was appointed
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On the 1st April 1764 Hornsby observed the partial phases of an annular
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in 1935. They include a determination of the rate of change of the
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Hornsby was especially concerned with the observation of the
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http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/phystat05/Talks/johnston.ppt
242:"Observations on the Eclipse of the Sun, April 1, 1764"
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Museum of the
History of Science, University of Oxford
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Hornsby was instrumental in the establishment of the
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Fellows of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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175:. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
77:. In 1761, he observed the transit of Venus from
123:Hornsby himself viewed the 1769 transit at the
118:Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
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329:"Transits of Venus and the Astronomical Unit"
8:
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932:Sedleian Professors of Natural Philosophy
912:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
732:Sedleian Professors of Natural Philosophy
169:Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy
68:Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy
66:from 1763. In the same year, he became
323:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
271:"Book of Members, 1780â2010: Chapter H"
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220:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
95:George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield
278:American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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177:American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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16:British astronomer and mathematician
907:19th-century British mathematicians
902:18th-century British mathematicians
97:(ca. 1695â1764), celebrated as an
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927:Savilian Professors of Astronomy
897:18th-century British astronomers
862:
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327:Teets, Donald (December 2003).
348:10.1080/0025570X.2003.11953207
184:Corpus Christi College, Oxford
53:Corpus Christi College, Oxford
1:
827:George Frederick James Temple
922:Fellows of the Royal Society
302:History of transit observing
297:Thomas Harriot's manuscripts
868:University of Oxford portal
692:University of Oxford portal
105:and a chemical laboratory.
60:Savilian Chair of Astronomy
51:Hornsby became a Fellow of
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815:Augustus Edward Hough Love
137:Philosophical Transactions
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645:Edward Charles Titchmarsh
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146:Philosophical Transitions
621:Henry John Stephen Smith
125:Tower of the Five Orders
222:gives this information:
627:James Joseph Sylvester
400:Chairs established by
171:. In 1783, he became
127:, the entrance to the
190:of the Earth and the
165:Radcliffe Observatory
639:Godfrey Harold Hardy
336:Mathematics Magazine
314:(accessed July 2006)
209:is named after him.
91:Earl of Macclesfield
551:Savilian Professors
410:Savilian Professors
393:Savilian Professors
173:Radcliffe Librarian
31:â 11 April 1810 in
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134:In the periodical
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767:Thomas Millington
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528:George Efstathiou
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188:axial inclination
64:Oxford University
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75:transit of Venus
58:He occupied the
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320:24 April 1810
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41:mathematician
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845:John M. Ball
841: (1979)
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412:of Astronomy
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892:1810 deaths
887:1733 births
573:John Wallis
553:of Geometry
534:Joseph Silk
201:The crater
131:in Oxford.
103:observatory
83:Oxfordshire
881:Categories
657:Ioan James
597:John Smith
462:John Keill
258:Teets 2003
158:perihelion
99:astronomer
37:astronomer
432:Seth Ward
216:Library."
179:in 1788.
55:in 1760.
27:(1733 in
356:54867823
196:Arcturus
154:aphelion
283:28 July
228:Sources
205:on the
203:Hornsby
142:Pacific
89:of the
354:
85:, the
33:Oxford
29:Durham
352:S2CID
332:(PDF)
310:, at
274:(PDF)
245:(PDF)
150:radar
81:, in
285:2014
218:The
213:N.B.
207:Moon
156:and
87:seat
47:Life
39:and
344:doi
194:of
93:.
62:at
24:FRS
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724:e
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