- Edwin Dunkin
Infobox Scientist
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name = Edwin Dunkin
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birth_date = Birth date|1821|8|19|df=y
birth_place =Truro ,Cornwall
death_date = Dda|1898|11|26|1821|08|19|df=y
death_place =Kidbrook ,London
residence =Blackheath ,London
citizenship = British
nationality = British
ethnicity = Cornish
fields = Astronomy
workplaces =Royal Greenwich Observatory
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awards = FRS
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footnotes =Edwin Dunkin FRS, (19 August 1821 - 26 November 1898), astronomer, president of the
Royal Astronomical Society and theRoyal Institution of Cornwall , was born inTruro ,Cornwall . His father, William Dunkin, was a computer for theNautical Almanac , and his mother (Mary Elizabeth Wise) was the daughter of aRedruth surgeon.Allan Chapman, ‘Dunkin, Edwin (1821–1898)’,Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ,Oxford University Press , 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57900 accessed 9 Sept 2008] ]Dunkin was proud of his Cornish ancestry, but went with his parents to London in 1832, following his father's transfer to the Nautical Almanac's London office. He was educated at
Wellington House Academy ,Hampstead , and at M. Liborel's school inGuînes in the Pas de Calais.In 1838 his father died, and he returned to London to seek work, and, on the recommendation of
Davies Gilbert and Lieutenant Stratfordcite web|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1899MNRAS..59..221.|title=Obituary Notices : Fellows :- Dunkin, Edwin|work=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 59, p.221|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society |accessdate=2008-09-09] was employed at theRoyal Greenwich Observatory as a computer.George Airy , theastronomer royal was soon impressed by him, and in 1840 Dunkin was promoted to a post in the new magnetic and meteorological department, becoming a permanent member of the observatory's staff in 1845.He married in 1838 Maria Hadlow of
Peckham , a stockbroker's daughter. They were survived by one son.Dunkin's meticulous accuracy and dependability led to him being given charge of a number of investigations, including the adjustment and error quantification of instruments such as Greenwich's new
lunar azimuth andtransit circle , and the expedition to Norway in 1851 to observe the total eclipse.Airy also used Dunkin as a reliable "man on the spot" in various non-Greenwich activities, including pendulum experiments at Harton colliery, and the determinations of longitudes of the Brussels and Paris observatories. In 1881, on Airy's retirement, Dunkin was promoted to chief assistant, or Deputy Astronomer Royal, holding that post until he retired in 1884.
Dunkin was a highly sociable man. In 1845 he was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1884 was elected its president. He was delighted to be elected to the RAS Dining Club in 1868, becoming its president in 1880. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876 and later served on the Council of the Royal Society. He always maintained his Cornish connexions, naming his villa inBlackheath "Kenwyn", after the village near Truro. He was President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall in 1890 & 1891.A prolific writer and popular communicator of astronomy, he wrote many articles for the "
Leisure Hour " and other periodicals, in addition to his scientific papers. His most famous work was "The Midnight Sky", with detailed charts of the London sky, all of which he had computed himself.Dunkin died at Brook Hospital in
Kidbrook on 26th November 1898 after a short illness.External links
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v59/n1519/abs/059131a0.html Obituary] in "Nature"
[http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1899Obs....22...49.&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf Obituary] in "The Observatory".
[http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.394/viewPage/4 Edwin Dunkin] at the
National Maritime Museum .References
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