George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield

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George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield

George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield FRS (* approx. 1697 , † March 17, 1764 in Shirburn Castle , Oxfordshire ) was a British politician and astronomer . He was President of the Royal Society from 1752 until his death .

Life

Parker was the son of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield , and his wife, Janet Carrier. His father was Lord Chancellor , but was deposed for corruption in 1725 and sentenced to a heavy fine.

George Parker studied from 1715 right on Clare College and at Corpus Christi College of Cambridge University and received a master's degree in 1718. In 1720 he made a trip to Italy.

After his father was raised to Earl of Macclesfield in 1721 , Parker carried the courtesy title Viscount Parker . In 1732 he inherited his father's title when he died.

Parker was a member of the House of Commons for Wallingford constituency from 1722–1727 , but his main interests were astronomy. He received mathematics lessons from Abraham de Moivre and William Jones . The latter also lived temporarily with him in Shirburn Castle and was on friendly terms with him. Parker stood up for him after Jones lost all of his capital in a bank breakdown. On October 25, 1722, Parker was elected a member of the Royal Society at the suggestion of Jones.

In 1739 Parker set up an astronomical observatory at Shirburn Castle with the help of James Bradley .

Parker campaigned for calendar reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in Great Britain, and gave a speech to the House of Lords in 1750 , which also appeared in print. The reform was implemented in 1752.

From 1719 until shortly before his death, Parker held the office of Teller of the Exchequer . From 1750 he was honorary vice president of the Foundling Hospital , a London orphanage. In 1759 he received an honorary doctorate in law (LLD) from Oxford University . Since 1749 he was a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1753 he became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1755 he was accepted as an honorary member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences . He died on March 17, 1764 in Shirburn Castle and was buried there.

Parker owned a valuable scientific library which was held in Shirburn Castle until 2004, when it was auctioned in several parts.

Works

  • The Earl of Macclesfield's Speech in the House of Peers, ... March 18, 1750, at the second reading of the Bill for regulating the commencement of the year , London 1751.
  • Remarks upon the solar and the lunar years, the cycle of 19 years, commonly called the golden number, the epact, and a method of finding the time of Easter, as it is now observed in most parts of Europe / Being part of a letter from the Right Honorable George Earl of Macclesfield to Martin Folkes, President of the Royal Society, and by him communicated to the same, May 10 1750 , London, 1751.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Horace Walpole, Thomas Park: A catalog of the royal and noble authors of England, Scotland, and Ireland , Vol. IV, London 1806. P. 272
  2. ^ Members of the previous academies. George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on May 1, 2015 .
  3. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. George Charles, Earl of Macclesfield (Lord Parker). Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed October 3, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 157.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Thomas Parker Earl of Macclesfield
1732-1764 		Thomas Parker
personal data
SURNAME Parker, George, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Parker, George; Viscount Parker (courtesy title)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British astronomer and President of the Royal Society
DATE OF BIRTH around 1697
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1764
Place of death Shirburn Castle , Oxfordshire