Joseph Alfred Hardcastle (astronomer)

Joseph Alfred Hardcastle (born August 27, 1868 in Pakenham , Suffolk , † November 10, 1917 in Oxted , Surrey ) was an English astronomer .

Life

Joseph Alfred Hardcastle was the eldest son of Henry Hardcastle (1840–1922), son of Joseph Alfred Hardcastle (1815–1899), and Maria Sophia, daughter of John Herschel . After studying at Harrow School , where he won the Neeld Gold Medal for Mathematics in 1886, he went to Trinity College , Cambridge , to study astronomy in 1887 , but had to leave college the following year for family reasons. Since 1890 his health was poor and he had to spend many English winters in Switzerland , Italy and Egypt . In 1897 he went back to the university, but this time too, for health reasons, he had to resign from his studies. In 1899 he married Theresa Selina Clive, the youngest daughter of Edward Clive Bayley (1821-1884).

From 1900 he began to give astronomical lectures. In 1901 he became a member of the Oxford University Extension Delegacy and the Cambridge Extension Syndicate. In addition to his teaching activities, he also continued to work in research. He worked for some time at Oxford University Observatory and moved to Crowthorne , Berkshire in 1903 to work with Samuel Arthur Saunder (1852-1912) on the exact position of lunar formations.

On January 10, 1902, he became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society . In the same year he became a member of the British Astronomical Association , to whose secretary he was elected in October 1904. He held this position for six years. From 1910 his health went steadily downhill, so that he gave up the secretary position of the British Astronomical Association and turned down the presidency. He also almost completely resigned from teaching. His health only recovered briefly. He could no longer take up the position of director at the Armagh Observatory , replacing Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer , who resigned in 1916 .

literature

Alice Grace Cook , Mary Adela Blagg : JA Hardcastle. An appreciation . In: Journal of the British Astronomical Association . tape 28 , 1917, pp. 71-72 (English).
HPH: Joseph Alfred Hardcastle. Obituary . In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . tape 78 , no. 4 , 1918, pp. 246–248 , doi : 10.1093 / mnras / 78.4.246 (English).
Patrick Moore : Armagh Observatory. A History, 1790-1967 . Armagh Observatory, Armagh 1967, p. 38–41 (English, [1] [accessed October 2, 2016] test).

Individual evidence

^ Hardcastle, Joseph Alfred . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume 3 : Gabb – Justamond . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1947, pp. 232 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

personal data
SURNAME	Hardcastle, Joseph Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 27, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pakenham , Suffolk
DATE OF DEATH	November 10, 1917
Place of death	Oxted , Surrey

[cambridge-1] Hardcastle, Joseph Alfred . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume 3 : Gabb – Justamond . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1947, pp. 232 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).