- Richard Sheepshanks
Richard Sheepshanks (born
30 July 1794 inLeeds - died4 August 1855 ) was an Englishastronomer .He graduated from Trinity College of Cambridge University in 1816. He was called to the bar in 1824 and took orders in
Church of England in 1825, but did not practice either profession because the death of his father, atextile manufacturer, left him with sufficient wealth to pursue his scientific interests.He served as editor of "
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society " and greatly improved their content.In 1832, he got involved in the lawsuit of
Edward Troughton against SirJames South , in which Troughton demanded payment for anequatorial mount ing that he had supplied to South, but which South claimed to bedefect ive. Sheepshanks informally served as legal counsel to Troughton; South's legal counsel wasDrinkwater Bethune . Troughton prevailed in the lawsuit.In 1833, he recommended withholding publication of an early edition of
Stephen Groombridge 'sstar catalogue , which was being published posthumously, after discovering the edition containederror s. A final corrected edition was later published in 1838 under the auspices ofGeorge Biddell Airy .In his later career he worked on establishing a standard of length for
imperial measure s.He was deeply skeptical of the work of
Charles Babbage and of his ability to deliver a workingDifference Engine orAnalytical Engine . The two men publicly attacked each other.He suffered a stroke ("apoplexy") on
29 July 1855 and he died on4 August . There is a memorial notice atSt. John's Church, Bilton inHarrogate [http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ENG-YKS-HARROGATE/2003-06/1055190687] , however he is buried at Trinity College.----
After his death, Richard's sister Anne Sheepshanks (1789–1876) contributed a legacy to the
observatory atCambridge . This fund was used to purchase a modern photographictelescope at the observatory, which was named in her honor. The Sheepshanks crater on theMoon is also named after her, one of the few lunar craters with a femaleeponym .External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21628&pt=Richard%20Sheepshanks Information on Sheepshanks's grave]
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0016//0000090.000.html MNRAS 16 (1856) 90, obituary]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
