George Airy was Lucasian professor at Cambridge and Astronomer Royal. He made many major contributions to mathematics and astronomy. He was born in Alnwick, Northumberland on 27 July 1801 and died in Greenwich on 2 January 1892. The special function he used in his study of the optics of the rainbow carries his name, and so does the Airy stress function in elasticity. The Airy function is named for him, an example of an object named after an astronomer who worked as a mathematician.
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Source Wikipedia: Airy function
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Source George Biddell Airy, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
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Source George Biddell Airy, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)Quick InfoQuote, Quick Info
Born 27 July 1801 Alnwick, Northumberland, England
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1. George Biddell Airy, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Summary
George Airy was Lucasian professor at Cambridge and Astronomer Royal. He made many major contributions to mathematics and astronomy.
In Branch: Applied and Computational Mathematics, Biography
He improved the orbital theory of Venus and the Moon, studied interference fringes in optics, made a mathematical study of the rainbow and computed the density of the Earth by swinging a pendulum at the top and bottom of a deep mine.
View the SourceWikipedia: Airy function
Attributed Works: Airy Function, LeadQuote, Attributed Works: Airy Function, Lead
The Airy function is named after the British astronomer and physicist George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), who encountered it in his early study of optics in physics.
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