Great Astronomers by Robert Stawell Ball (best ereader for students .txt) 📖
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be shared between Le Verrier and another astronomer, J. C. Adams,
of Cambridge. In our chapter on this great English mathematician
we shall describe the manner in which he was independently led to
the same discovery.
Directly the planetary nature of the newly-discovered body had
been established, the great observatories naturally included this
additional member of the solar system in their working lists, so
that day after day its place was carefully determined. When
sufficient time had elapsed the shape and position of the orbit of
the body became known. Of course, it need hardly be said that
observations applied to the planet itself must necessarily provide
a far more accurate method of determining the path which it
follows, than would be possible to Le Verrier, when all he had to
base his calculations upon was the influence of the planet
reflected, so to speak, from Uranus. It may be noted that the
true elements of the planet, when revealed by direct observation,
showed that there was a considerable discrepancy between the track
of the planet which Le Verrier had announced, and that which the
planet was actually found to pursue.
The name of the newly-discovered body had next to be considered.
As the older members of the system were already known by the same
names as great heathen divinities, it was obvious that some
similar source should be invoked for a suggestion as to a name for
the most recent planet. The fact that this body was so remote in
the depths of space, not unnaturally suggested the name “Neptune.”
Such is accordingly the accepted designation of that mighty globe
which revolves in the track that at present seems to trace out the
frontiers of our system.
Le Verrier attained so much fame by this discovery, that when,
in 1854, Arago’s place had to be filled at the head of the great
Paris Observatory, it was universally felt that the discoverer of
Neptune was the suitable man to assume the office which
corresponds in France to that of the Astronomer Royal in England.
It was true that the work of the astronomical mathematician had
hitherto been of an abstract character. His discoveries had been
made at his desk and not in the observatory, and he had no
practical acquaintance with the use of astronomical instruments.
However, he threw himself into the technical duties of the
observatory with vigour and determination. He endeavoured to
inspire the officers of the establishment with enthusiasm for that
systematic work which is so necessary for the accomplishment of
useful astronomical research. It must, however, be admitted that
Le Verrier was not gifted with those natural qualities which would
make him adapted for the successful administration of such an
establishment. Unfortunately disputes arose between the Director
and his staff. At last the difficulties of the situation became
so great that the only possible solution was to supersede Le
Verrier, and he was accordingly obliged to retire. He was
succeeded in his high office by another eminent mathematician, M.
Delaunay, only less distinguished than Le Verrier himself.
Relieved of his official duties, Le Verrier returned to the
mathematics he loved. In his non-official capacity he continued
to work with the greatest ardour at his researches on the
movements of the planets. After the death of M. Delaunay, who was
accidentally drowned in 1873, Le Verrier was restored to the
directorship of the observatory, and he continued to hold the
office until his death.
The nature of the researches to which the life of Le Verrier was
subsequently devoted are not such as admit of description in a
general sketch like this, where the language, and still less the
symbols, of mathematics could not be suitably introduced. It
may, however, be said in general that he was particularly engaged
with the study of the effects produced on the movements of the
planets by their mutual attractions. The importance of this work
to astronomy consists, to a considerable extent, in the fact that
by such calculations we are enabled to prepare tables by which the
places of the different heavenly bodies can be predicted for
our almanacs. To this task Le Verrier devoted himself, and the
amount of work he has accomplished would perhaps have been deemed
impossible had it not been actually done.
The superb success which had attended Le Verrier’s efforts to
explain the cause of the perturbations of Uranus, naturally led
this wonderful computer to look for a similar explanation of
certain other irregularities in planetary movements. To a large
extent he succeeded in showing how the movements of each of the
great planets could be satisfactorily accounted for by the
influence of the attractions of the other bodies of the same
class. One circumstance in connection with these investigations
is sufficiently noteworthy to require a few words here. Just as
at the opening of his career, Le Verrier had discovered that
Uranus, the outermost planet of the then known system, exhibited
the influence of an unknown external body, so now it appeared to
him that Mercury, the innermost body of our system, was also
subjected to some disturbances, which could not be satisfactorily
accounted for as consequences of any known agents of attraction.
The ellipse in which Mercury revolved was animated by a slow
movement, which caused it to revolve in its plane. It appeared to
Le Verrier that this displacement was incapable of explanation by
the action of any of the known bodies of our system. He was,
therefore, induced to try whether he could not determine from the
disturbances of Mercury the existence of some other planet, at
present unknown, which revolved inside the orbit of the known
planet. Theory seemed to indicate that the observed alteration in
the track of the planet could be thus accounted for. He naturally
desired to obtain telescopic confirmation which might verify the
existence of such a body in the same way as Dr. Galle verified the
existence of Neptune. If there were, indeed, an intramercurial
planet, then it must occasionally cross between the earth and
the sun, and might now and then be expected to be witnessed in
the actual act of transit. So confident did Le Verrier feel in
the existence of such a body that an observation of a dark
object in transit, by Lescarbault on 26th March, 1859, was
believed by the mathematician to be the object which his theory
indicated. Le Verrier also thought it likely that another transit
of the same object would be seen in March, 1877. Nothing of the
kind was, however, witnessed, notwithstanding that an assiduous
watch was kept, and the explanation of the change in Mercury’s
orbit must, therefore, be regarded as still to be sought for.
Le Verrier naturally received every honour that could be
bestowed upon a man of science. The latter part of his life was
passed during the most troubled period of modern French history.
He was a supporter of the Imperial Dynasty, and during the
Commune he experienced much anxiety; indeed, at one time grave
fears were entertained for his personal safety.
Early in 1877 his health, which had been gradually failing for
some years, began to give way. He appeared to rally somewhat in
the summer, but in September he sank rapidly, and died on
Sunday, the 23rd of that month.
His remains were borne to the cemetery on Mont Parnasse in a
public funeral. Among his pallbearers were leading men of
science, from other countries as well as France, and the
memorial discourses pronounced at the grave expressed their
admiration of his talents and of the greatness of the services he
had rendered to science.
ADAMS.
The illustrious mathematician who, among Englishmen, at all
events, was second only to Newton by his discoveries in
theoretical astronomy, was born on June the 5th, 1819, at the
farmhouse of Lidcot, seven miles from Launceston, in Cornwall.
His early education was imparted under the guidance of the Rev.
John Couch Grylls, a first cousin of his mother. He appears to
have received an education of the ordinary school type in classics
and mathematics, but his leisure hours were largely devoted to
studying what astronomical books he could find in the library of
the Mechanics’ Institute at Devonport. He was twenty years old
when he entered St. John’s College, Cambridge. His career in the
University was one of almost unparalleled distinction, and it is
recorded that his answering at the Wranglership examination, where
he came out at the head of the list in 1843, was so high that he
received more than double the marks awarded to the Second
Wrangler.
Among the papers found after his death was the following
memorandum, dated July the 3rd, 1841: “Formed a design at the
beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after
taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus,
Which are as yet unaccounted for, in order to find whether they
may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond
it; and, if possible, thence to determine the elements of its
orbit approximately, which would lead probably to its discovery.”
After he had taken his degree, and had thus obtained a little
relaxation from the lines within which his studies had
previously been necessarily confined, Adams devoted himself to
the study of the perturbations of Uranus, in accordance with the
resolve which we have just seen that he formed while he was
still an undergraduate. As a first attempt he made the
supposition that there might be a planet exterior to Uranus, at
a distance which was double that of Uranus from the sun. Having
completed his calculation as to the effect which such a
hypothetical planet might exercise upon the movement of Uranus,
he came to the conclusion that it would be quite possible to
account completely for the unexplained difficulties by the
action of an exterior planet, if only that planet were of
adequate size and had its orbit properly placed. It was
necessary, however, to follow up the problem more precisely,
and accordingly an application was made through Professor
Challis, the Director of the Cambridge Observatory, to the
Astronomer Royal, with the object of obtaining from the
observations made at Greenwich Observatory more accurate values
for the disturbances suffered by Uranus. Basing his work on the
more precise materials thus available, Adams undertook his
calculations anew, and at last, with his completed results, he
called at Greenwich Observatory on October the 21st, 1845. He
there left for the Astronomer Royal a paper which contained the
results at which he had arrived for the mass and the mean distance
of the hypothetical planet as well as the other elements necessary
for calculating its exact position.
[PLATE: JOHN COUCH ADAMS.]
As we have seen in the preceding chapter, Le Verrier had been also
investigating the same problem. The place which Le Verrier
assigned to the hypothetical disturbing planet for the beginning
of the year 1847, was within a degree of that to which Adams’s
computations pointed, and which he had communicated to the
Astronomer Royal seven months before Le Verrier’s work appeared.
On July the 29th, 1846, Professor Challis commenced to search for
the unknown object with the Northumberland telescope belonging to
the Cambridge Observatory. He confined his attention to a limited
region in the heavens, extending around that point to which Mr.
Adams’ calculations pointed. The relative places of all the
stars, or rather star-like objects within this area, were to be
carefully measured. When the same observations were repeated a
week or two later, then the distances of the several pairs of
stars from each other would be found unaltered, but any planet
which happened to lie among the objects measured would disclose
its existence by the alterations in distance due to its motion in
the interval. This method of search, though
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