Nationality British Role Astronomer Name George Darwin | Alma mater Cambridge | |
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Born George Howard Darwin
9 July 1845
Down House, Downe, Kent, England ( 1845-07-09 ) Fields Astronomy and mathematics Notable students Ernest William Brown
E. T. Whittaker Notable awards Smith's Prize (1868)
Royal Medal (1884)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1892)
Copley Medal (1911) Died December 7, 1912, Cambridge Siblings Francis Darwin, Anne Darwin, Leonard Darwin Children Charles Galton Darwin, Gwen Raverat, Margaret Elizabeth Darwin Parents Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin Books The Tides and Kindred P, The Scientific Papers of, The Scientific Papers of, Scientific Papers Similar People Charles Darwin, Horace Darwin, Francis Darwin, Leonard Darwin, Anne Darwin | ||
Academic advisors Edward John Routh | ||
The cosmic history of star formation
Sir George Howard Darwin KCB FRS FRSE (9 July 1845 – 7 December 1912) was an English barrister and astronomer.
Contents
Biography
George Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the second son and fifth child of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin.
From the age of 11 he studied under Charles Pritchard at Clapham Grammar School, and entered St John's College, Cambridge, in 1863, though he soon moved to Trinity College, where his tutor was Edward John Routh. He graduated as second wrangler in 1868, when he was also placed second for the Smith's Prize and was appointed to a college fellowship. He earned his M.A. in 1871. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, but returned to science. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1879 and won their Royal Medal in 1884 and their Copley Medal in 1911. He delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1891 on the subject of "tidal prediction".
In 1883 Darwin became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He studied tidal forces involving the Sun, Moon, and Earth, and formulated the fission theory of Moon formation.
Darwin was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and won the Gold Medal of the RAS in 1892. From 1899–1901 he served as President of the RAS. The RAS founded a prize lectureship in 1984 and named it the George Darwin Lectureship in Darwin's honour.
He was an invited speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians 1908, Rome on the topic of "Mechanics, Physical Mathematics, Astronomy." As President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, he also gave the Introductory Address to the Congress in 1912 on the character of pure and applied mathematics.
George and Maud Darwin bought Newnham Grange, Cambridge in 1885. The Darwins extensively remodelled the house. Since 1962 the Grange has been part of Darwin College, Cambridge.
He is buried in Trumpington Extension Cemetery in Cambridge with his son Leonard and his daughter Gwen (Raverat), his wife Lady Maud Darwin was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium; his brothers Sir Francis Darwin and Sir Horace Darwin and their respective wives are interred in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground.
Family
Darwin married Martha (Maud) du Puy, the daughter of Charles du Puy of Philadelphia, in 1884; his wife was a member of the Ladies Dining Society in Cambridge, with 11 other members.
She died on 6 February 1947. They had three sons and two daughters: