Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PROCTOR, RICHARD ANTHONY (1837-1888)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 421 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PROCTOR, See also:RICHARD See also:ANTHONY (1837-1888) , See also:British astronomer, was See also:born at See also:Chelsea on the 23rd of See also:March 1837. He was a delicate See also:child, and, his See also:father dying in 185o, his See also:mother attended herself to his See also:education. On his See also:health improving he was sent to See also:King's See also:College, See also:London, from which he obtained a scholarship at St See also:John's College, See also:Cambridge. He graduated in 186o as 23rd wrangler. His See also:marriage while still an undergraduate probably accounted for his See also:low See also:place in the tripos. He then read for the See also:bar, but turned to See also:astronomy and authorship instead, and in 1865 published an See also:article on the " See also:Colours of See also:Double Stars " in the Cornhill See also:Magazine. His first See also:book—See also:Saturn and his See also:System—was published in the same See also:year, at hisown expense. This See also:work contains an elaborate See also:account of the phenomena presented by the See also:planet; but although favourably received by astronomers, it had no See also:great See also:sale. He intended to follow it up with similar See also:treatises on See also:Mars, See also:Jupiter, See also:sun, See also:moon, comets and meteors, stars, and nebulae, and had in fact commenced a monograph on Mars, when the failure of a New See also:Zealand See also:bank deprived him of an See also:independence which would have enabled him to carry out his See also:scheme without anxiety as to its commercial success or failure. Being thus obliged to depend upon his writings for the support of his See also:family, and having learned by the See also:fate of his Saturn that the See also:general public are not attracted by See also:works requiring arduous study, he cultivated a more popular See also:style. He wrote for a number of See also:periodicals; and although he has stated that he would at this See also:time willingly have " turned to See also:stone-breaking on the roads, or any other See also:form of hard and honest but unscientific labour, if a modest competence had been offered " him in any such direction, he attained a high degree of popularity, and his numerous works had a wide See also:influence in familiarizing the public with the See also:main facts of astronomy. His earlier efforts were, however, not always successful.

His See also:

Hand-book of the Stars (1866) was refused by Messrs See also:Longmans and Messrs See also:Macmillan, but being privately printed, it sold fairly well. For his See also:Half-See also:Hours with the See also:Telescope (1868), which eventually reached a loth edition, he received originally £25 from Messrs Hardwick. Although teaching was uncongenial to him he took pupils in See also:mathematics, and held for a time the position of mathematical See also:coach for See also:Woolwich and See also:Sandhurst. His See also:literary See also:standing meantime improved, and he became a See also:regular contributor to The Intellectual Observer, See also:Chambers's See also:Journal and the Popular See also:Science See also:Review. In 187o appeared his Other Worlds than Ours, in which he discussed the question of the See also:plurality of worlds in the See also:light of new facts. This was followed by a See also:long See also:series of popular treatises in rapid See also:succession, amongst the more important of which are Light Science for Leisure Hours and The Sun (1871); The Orbs around Us and Essays on Astronomy (1872); The Expanse of See also:Heaven, The Moon and The Borderland of Science (1873); The Universe and the Coming Transits and Transits of See also:Venus (1874); Our Place among Infinities (1875); Myths and Marvels of Astronomy (1877); The Universe of Stars (1878); See also:Flowers of the See also:Sky (1879); The Peotry of Astronomy (188o); Easy See also:Star Lessons and See also:Familiar Science Studies (1882); Mysteries of Time and Space and The Great See also:Pyramid (1883); The Universe of Suns (1884); The Seasons (1885); Other Suns than Ours and Half-Hours with the Stars (1887). In 1881 he founded Knowledge, a popular weekly magazine of science (converted into a monthly, in 1885), which had a considerable circulation. In it he wrote on a great variety of subjects, including See also:chess and See also:whist. He was also the author of the articles on astronomy in the See also:American Cyclopaedia and the ninth edition of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica, and was well known as a popular lecturer on astronomy in See also:England, See also:America and See also:Australia. Elected a See also:fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1866, he became honorary secretary in 1872, and contributed eighty-three See also:separate papers to its Monthly Notices. Of these the more noteworthy dealt with the See also:distribution of stars, star-clusters and nebulae, and the construction of the sidereal universe. He was an See also:expert in all that related to See also:map-See also:drawing, and published two star-atlases.

A See also:

chart on an isographic See also:projection, exhibiting - all the stars contained in the See also:Bonn Durchmusterung, was designed to show the See also:laws according to which the stars down to the 9–loth magnitude are distributed over the See also:northern heavens. His " Theoretical Considerations respecting the See also:Corona " (Monthly Notices, xxxi. 184, 254) also deserve mention, as well as his discussions of the rotation of Mars, by which he deduced its See also:period with a probable See also:error of Oa •005. He also vigorously criticized the See also:official arrangements for observing the transits of Venus of 1874 and 1882. His largest and most ambitious work, Old and New Astronomy, unfortunately See also:left unfinished at his See also:death, was completed by A. See also:Cowper Ranyard and published in 1892. He settled in America some time after his second marriage in 1881, and c' ied at New See also:York on the 12th of See also:September 1888. See Monthly Notices, xlix. 164; See also:Observatory, xi. 366; The Times, (See also:Sept. 14, 1888) ; Knowledge (Oct. 1888, p.

265) ; See also:

Appleton's See also:Annual Cyclopaedia, xiii. 707; Autobiographical Notes in New Science Review, i. 393.

End of Article: PROCTOR, RICHARD ANTHONY (1837-1888)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PROCTOR, ALEXANDER PHIMISTER (1862– ) 		[next]
PROCURATION (Lat. procurare, to take care of)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries