Adams, John Couch

Adams, John Couch

▪ British astronomer
born June 5, 1819, Laneast, Cornwall, Eng.
died Jan. 21, 1892, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
 British mathematician and astronomer, one of two people who independently discovered the planet Neptune. On July 3, 1841, Adams had entered in his journal: “Formed a design in the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus . . . in order to find out whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it. . . .” In September 1845 he gave James Challis, director of the Cambridge Observatory, accurate information on where the new planet, as yet unobserved, could be found; but unfortunately the planet was not recognized at Cambridge until much later, after its discovery at the Berlin Observatory on Sept. 23, 1846.

      Adams also showed (1866) that the Leonid meteor shower had an orbit closely matching that of a comet (1866 I). He described the Moon's motion more exactly than had Pierre-Simon Laplace and studied terrestrial magnetism.

      After being made professor of mathematics at the University of St. Andrews (Fife) in 1858 and Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at Cambridge in 1859, he became director of Cambridge Observatory in 1861.

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  • Adams , John Couch — (1819–1892) British astronomer Adams was born in the small Cornish town of Launceston, where his father was a tenant farmer. He developed an early interest in astronomy, constructing his own sundial and observing solar altitudes, and pursuing his …   Scientists

  • ADAMS, JOHN COUCH —    an English astronomer, the discoverer simultaneously with Leverrier of the planet Neptune (1819 1892) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • John Couch — Adams Pour les articles homonymes, voir Adams. John Couch Adams John Couch Adams (5 juin  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Couch Adams — John Couch Adams, etwa 1870 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Couch Adams — Infobox Scientist name = John Couch Adams box width = 300px image width = 240px caption = birth date = birth date|1819|06|15 birth place = Laneast, Cornwall, Great Britain death date = death date and age|1892|01|21|1819|06|15 death place =… …   Wikipedia

  • John Couch Adams — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Adams. John Couch Adams John Couch Adams en 1870 Naissance 5  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Couch Adams — Este artículo trata sobre un matemático y astrónomo inglés. Para otros usos de este término, véase John Adams (desambiguación). John Couch Adams. John Couch Adams (5 de junio de 1819 – 21 de enero de 1892) fue un matemático y astrónomo …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Couch — may refer to:*John H. Couch (1811–1870), an American sea captain and pioneer *John Couch Classical Guitarist (b. 1976), a New Zealand classical guitarist *John Couch Adams (1819–1892), English astronomer …   Wikipedia

  • John Couch Adams — 1819 1892. Engelsk astronom og matematiker som i en alder af 24 var den første til at forudsige positionen af en planet udenfor Uranus. Men desværre offentliggjorde Adams ikke sin forudsigelse. Galle bekræftede eksistensen af Neptun baseret på en …   Danske encyklopædi

  • John C. Adams — John Couch Adams John Couch Adams John Couch Adams (* 5. Juni 1819 in Laneast, Cornwall, England; † 20. Janua …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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