John Tebbutt
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John Tebbutt (25 May 1834 – 29 November 1916) was an Australian
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
and
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...
, famous for discovering the
Great Comet A great comet is a comet that becomes exceptionally bright. There is no official definition; often the term is attached to comets such as Halley's Comet, which during certain appearances are bright enough to be noticed by casual observers who ar ...
s of
1861 This year saw significant progress in the Unification of Italy, the outbreak of the American Civil War, and the emancipation reform abolishing serfdom in the Russian Empire. Events January * January 1 ** Benito Juárez captures Mexico Ci ...
and
1881 Events January * January 1– 24 – Siege of Geok Tepe: Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev defeat the Turkomans. * January 13 – War of the Pacific – Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos: The Chilean army ...
.


Early life

Tebbutt was born at
Windsor, New South Wales Windsor is a historic town in north-western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. It is the council Seat of government, seat of the City of Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury Local government in Australia, local government area. The town sits on the Hawkesb ...
, the only son of John Tebbutt, then a prosperous store keeper. His grandfather, John Tebbutt, was one of the early settlers in Australia; he arrived at Sydney about the end of 1801. Tebbutt was educated first at
the Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the '' Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''Th ...
parish school, then at a
private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
kept by the Rev. Mathew Adam of the local
Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...
, and finally at a small but excellent school under the Rev. Henry Tarlton Stiles, where he had a sound training in Latin.


Career

In 1845 Tebbutt's father purchased a tract of land at the eastern end of the town of Windsor known as the peninsula, and built a residence there. In 1853 John Tebutt purchased a sextant and using this along with an ordinary marine telescope and a watch began his observations of the heavens. About nine years later, on 13 May 1861, Tebbutt discovered the 1861 comet, one of the most brilliant comets known. There was no means then of telegraphing the intelligence to England where it became visible on 29 June. Tebbutt was acknowledged as the first discoverer of this comet, and the first to compute its approximate orbit. In November 1861 he purchased an excellent
refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...
of aperture and
focal length The focal length of an Optics, optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the Multiplicative inverse, inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system Converge ...
. In 1862, on the resignation of the Rev. W. Scott, he was offered the position of government astronomer for
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
but refused it. Tebbutt also discovered Nova Scorpii 1862, a nova visible to the unaided eye.


Observatory

In 1863 he built, with his own hands, a small observatory close to his father's residence, and installed his instruments consisting of his 3¼-inch telescope, a two-inch transit instrument, and an eight-day, one-half-second box-chronometer. Shortly before this period Tebbutt had begun to record meteorological observations, and in 1868 published these for the years 1863 to 1866 under the title ''Meteorological Observations made at the Private Observatory of John Tebbutt, Jnr''. He continued the publication of these records at intervals for more than 30 years. He had also begun a long series of papers which were published in the ''
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in astronomy, astrophysics and related fields. It publishes original research in two formats: papers (of any length) and letters (limited to ...
of London'', in the ''Astronomical Register'', London, and in the ''Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales''. He contributed to other
scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...
s, and made an immense number of contributions to the Australian press. Tebbutt received a Paris Exposition Silver Medal in 1867 in recognition of his paper ''On the Progress and Present State of Astronomical Science in New South Wales''. In 1872 a equatorial refracting telescope was purchased for the observatory. In 1881 Tebbutt discovered another
great comet A great comet is a comet that becomes exceptionally bright. There is no official definition; often the term is attached to comets such as Halley's Comet, which during certain appearances are bright enough to be noticed by casual observers who ar ...
, now designated C/1881 K1. In 1886 a new telescope of aperture and focal length was purchased, which enabled him to considerably extend his operations. In 1887 he published ''History and description of Mr. Tebbutt's observatory, Windsor, New South Wales'', and followed this with a yearly report for about 15 years. Between 1868 and 1902 he made 396 lunar
occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks f ...
observations. A branch of the
British Astronomical Association The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers. Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborat ...
was established at Sydney in 1895 and Tebbutt was elected its first president. In 1904, in his seventieth year, he discontinued systematic work, though he retained his interest in astronomy and continued to do some observing. The following year the
Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
of London recognised his work by awarding him the
Jackson-Gwilt Medal The Jackson-Gwilt Medal is an award that has been issued by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) since 1897. The original criteria were for the invention, improvement, or development of astronomical instrumentation or techniques; for achievement ...
of the society. In 1908, Tebbutt published his ''Astronomical Memoirs'', giving an account of his 54 years of work. He was much gratified in 1914, during the visit of the British association, by a visit to his observatory of a small party of astronomers. He died at Windsor on 29 November 1916. The year after his death, his son delivered John Tebbutt's working library and manuscripts to the State Library of New South Wales. The ''John Tebbutt Memorial Collection'' is made up of 3,676 printed volumes, 117 volumes of manuscripts and 235 pamphlets. He was commemorated on the reverse side of the
Australian one hundred-dollar note The Australian one-hundred-dollar note was first issued in 1984 as a paper note. There have been two different issues of this denomination: initially a very light turquoise-blue paper note, and from May 1996, a green polymer note. Since the sta ...
, in circulation 1984 until 1996 when it was replaced by a portrait of Sir
John Monash General (Australia), General Sir John Monash (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the World War I, First World War. He commanded the 13th Brigade (Australia), 13th Infantry Brigade befor ...
.


References


External links

*
''History and Description of Mr Tebbutt's Observatory''

''Astronomical Memoirs''

''John Tebbutt Memorial Collection''
:''Article includes material fro

which is in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tebbutt, John 1834 births 1916 deaths 19th-century Australian astronomers Discoverers of comets People from New South Wales