John Goodricke

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birth_date = September 17 1764
birth_place = Groningen
death_date = April 20 1786
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nationality = Netherlands
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field = Astronomy
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prizes = Copley Medal
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John Goodricke FRS (September 17 1764 – April 20 1786) was an eminent and profoundly deaf amateur astronomer. He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782. (In this context, 'variable' means that the star changes in brightness.)

Life and work

John Goodricke, named after his grandfather Sir John Goodricke, was born in Groningen in the Netherlands, but lived most of his life in England. He was profoundly deaf through most of his life, due to scarlet fever in early childhood. His parents sent him to Thomas Braidwood's Academy, a school for the deaf in Edinburgh, and in 1778 to the Warrington Academy.

After leaving Warrington, Goodricke returned to live with his parents in York. There, he became friends with Edward Pigott, whose father Nathaniel Pigott had built a sophisticated private observatory. Edward was already interested in variable stars, and he gave Goodricke a list of those that he thought were worthy of observation.

Although several stars were already known to vary in apparent magnitude, Goodricke was the first to propose a mechanism to account for this. He suggested that Algol is what is now known as an eclipsing binary. He presented his findings to the Royal Society in May 1783, and for this work, the Society awarded him the Copley Medal for that year. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on April 16 1786. He never learned of this honour however, as he died four days later, probably from pneumonia. He never married.

Goodricke in Yorkshire

Goodricke was buried at Hunsingore Church in Yorkshire, along with many of his relatives. [cite journal | author = Goodricke, C. A. | title = Letter accompanying the gift to the Society of a portrait of John Goodricke | journal = Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | year = 1912 | volume = 73 | issue = 11 | pages = 3 – 4 | url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1912MNRAS..73....3G ]

Today there is a marker in York near the site of John Goodricke's observatory.

Between October 2005 and March 2006 Sean Ellingham and James Valner from the University of York undertook a project to find the position of Goodricke's observatory using the data he recorded. A 1949 study by Sidney Melmore [cite journal | author = Melmore, Sydney | title = The Site of John Goodricke's Observatory | journal = The Observatory | year = 1949 | volume = 65 | issue = | pages = 95 – 99 | url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1949Obs....69...95M ] had shown that Goodricke worked from the Treasurer's House (now owned by the National Trust) very near York Minster. By re-creating Goodricke's observations, the two York students were able to conclude that he had observed from the eastern-most window of the second floor, looking south towards the Minster.

Goodricke College at the University of York is named after Goodricke. There is also a modern sculpture named "Algol" in the grounds.

References

Further reading

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External links

*- Features animations of different types of variable stars.

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