Andrews Professor of Astronomy

The Andrews Professorship of Astronomy is an honorary chair in astronomy, formerly a full teaching chair, in the University of Dublin.

From 1792 to 1921 the holder was also Astronomer Royal for Ireland.

History

Francis Andrews, Provost of Trinity, died on 18 June 1774 leaving £3,000 to establish a chair of astronomy and to provide a new observatory, to be built at Dunsink. The position was regulated by a new Statute of Trinity College, which required the Andrews professor to "make regular observations of the heavenly bodies ... and of the sun, moon and planets". The first professor, Henry Ussher, was appointed in 1783.

Between the years 1792 and 1921, the holder of the chair also held the title of Astronomer Royal for Ireland, granted under letters patent of King George III.

The third holder of the chair was William Rowan Hamilton, who was appointed before he had taken his first degree, while still aged twenty-one. He neglected his official duties, focussing on important research into theoretical physics and mechanics.

In 1921, on the retirement of Henry Plummer, Trinity ceased to fund the professorship and the Observatory at Dunsink, but in 1947 the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies took over the Observatory. The possibility of appointing an Astronomer Royal ended in 1966 when new statutes were adopted.

In 1984 the Andrews chair was re-established as an honorary position, and since then has been held by Patrick Arthur Wayman and Luke Drury.

List of Professors

• 1783-1790: Henry Ussher (died 1790)
• 1792-1827: John Brinkley
• 1827-1865: William Rowan Hamilton
• 1865-1874: Franz Friedrich Ernst Brünnow
• 1874-1892: Sir Robert Stawell Ball
• 1892-1897: Arthur Alcock Rambaut
• 1897-1906: Charles Jasper Joly
• 1906-1912: Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker
• 1912-1921: Henry C. Plummer
• 1921-1984: Vacant
• 1984-1998: Patrick Arthur Wayman (honorary)
• 1999-  : Luke Drury (honorary)

Further reading

• P. A. Wayman, The Andrews Professors of Astronomy in The Irish Astronomical Journal