Robert Innes

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Robert Innes

Robert Thorburn Ayton Innes (born November 10, 1861 in Edinburgh , † March 13, 1933 in London ) was a Scottish-South African astronomer . With a total of around 1600 newly discovered double stars and countless measurements on known pairs of stars, Innes is considered the founder of southern double star astronomy.

Innes was interested in astronomy from an early age. In 1879, at the age of 17, he was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society . Since he did not have the means for astronomical instruments, he had to limit himself to theoretical work. He benefited from his mathematical apprehension, so that the lack of formal mathematical training was no obstacle for him. He later regarded himself - despite his considerable services in observational astronomy - primarily as a mathematical astronomer.

life and work

Sydney

Innes emigrated to Australia at a young age and set up shop in Sydney as a wine merchant . In 1891 he published in the Monthly Notices an investigation of the disturbances exerted by Mars on the earth's orbit . In 1893 he extended the calculations to include the orbit disturbances caused by Venus .

In 1894 he was given a 6- inch refractor on loan and, as a result of only about thirty hours of searching, was able to publish a list of 26 double stars he had found in December 1894. With this he began his career as an observing astronomer under the still little-developed southern sky .

Cape Town

In an effort to gain access to better instruments, Innes wrote to David Gill , Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape , offering him his services as an assistant. Such a position was not vacant, but Gill had jobs as secretary, librarian, and accountant. Innes accepted the offer, moved to the Cape in 1896 and took up his new position at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope near Cape Town on January 1, 1897 . This change was associated with considerable financial losses, but opened up extensive astronomical opportunities for him, as he could carry out his official duties with ease and could devote himself entirely to astronomy in his free time.

Innes participated in the revision of the Cape Photographic survey , used the 7- and 18-inch telescopes of the observatory to observe double stars and variables , compiled a Reference Catalog of Southern Double Stars (1899) and continued his mathematical investigations.

Johannesburg

In 1903 a meteorological service was set up in the Transvaal . On Gill's recommendation, Innes was appointed director of the Transvaal Observatory (renamed Union Observatory in 1912 ) near Johannesburg . This observatory initially served almost exclusively meteorological purposes, but was expanded by Innes into an astronomical observatory. Innes headed the meteorological service from 1903 to 1912, but again carried out his official duties with such efficiency that he could devote his free time to astronomy. From 1912 the observatory turned exclusively to astronomy.

Under the energetic direction of Innes, the first Union Astronomer , the observatory produced a steady stream of observational data. In addition to the continuation of double star observations, these were above all

  • the determination of the proper motion of numerous stars with the " blinking microscope ", which Innes was one of the first to recognize. Photographic plates taken at the Cape, Greenwich , Melbourne and Sydney were systematically searched for movements of their own. The recordings from the Cape alone provided around 4,000 self-motions of stars up to the 15th magnitude . In the course of this program, Proxima Centauri was discovered.
  • the production of photographic maps of the southern sky (as part of the southern part of the Franklin-Adams charts ). John Franklin-Adams gave the Union Observatory the telescopes used for the charts for further photographic work. This was mainly taken over by Harry Edwin Wood , who later succeeded Innes as Union Astronomer .
  • an extended series of systematic observations of Jupiter's moons begun in 1908, which were only planned for one Jupiter orbit, but were then continued for much longer.

The fluctuations in polar elevation were observed until 1914 .

Innes' 1918 assumption that the rotation of the earth might be subject to fluctuations became a certainty five years later after he had completed a re-evaluation of all observed transits of Mercury .

A 26½-inch model, which had already been ordered in 1909, was finally put into operation in 1925 after numerous delays. With this instrument Innes took up the double star search and observation again. In the first six months, 887 measurements were taken with the new instrument and 303 new pairs of stars were discovered. In 1927 Innes published (in collaboration with WH van den Bos ) the Southern Double Star Catalog .

Routine work included, among other things, the time service , seismological observations, star coverings , comet and planetary observations, and the discovery and observation of minor planets .

In addition, Innes undertook further theoretical work, to which he could devote himself more intensively after he had retired on December 31, 1927. He stayed in South Africa for a few years and then moved to England, where he died a few months later. He left his wife and three sons.

Honors

In 1904 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1922 the University of Leiden awarded him an honorary doctorate - Innes used this occasion to initiate a close and fruitful collaboration with the Leiden observatory .

The asteroid (1658) Innes and the lunar crater Innes were named after Robert Innes .

Quotes

“Innes had a job as an errand boy or employee at a company in London. The story goes that one day he should order envelopes. He had been busy with astronomical calculations, and instead of ordering a thousand, he was ordering a million. For years he still used envelopes as concept paper. ”( WS Finsen : Recollections of William S. Finsen)

“Lord Milner believed that the Transvaal needed a meteorological office for agricultural purposes but had no need for an astronomical observatory - Sir David Gill had other plans. The shrewd Scot recommended his librarian, RTA Innes, for the position, knowing full well that Innes would not rest until he had included astronomy in the office's work program. ”( WH van den Bos : In Memoriam HE Wood)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 23, 2019 .
  2. ^ WS Finsen: Recollections of William S. Finsen. Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, Vol. 64, Nos. 3 and 4, pp. 45-66 (2005), “Innes had a job at a firm in London as an office boy or clerk. There is a story that he was once asked to order envelopes. He had been doing astronomical arithmetic, and instead of ordering a thousand, he ordered a million. He used envelopes for scrap paper for years afterwards. "( PDF )
  3. ^ WH van den Bos: In Memoriam HE Wood. Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, Vol. 5, p. 17, “Lord Milner was convinced that the Transvaal needed a meteorological office for agricultural reasons, but had no need for an astronomical Observatory - Sir David Gill had other ideas. That canny Scotsman recommended his librarian, RTA Innes, for the post, knowing well that Innes would not rest until he had introduced astronomy into the institution's work. "( Online )
personal data
SURNAME Innes, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Innes, Robert Thorburn Ayton (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish-South African astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1933
Place of death London