Theodore Evelyn Reece Phillips (28 March 1868 – 13 May 1942), known as T. E. R. Phillips, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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 ...

. Phillips was born in

Kibworth Kibworth is an area of the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishes in England, civil parishes: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . At the 2011 census, Kibwor ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, the son of the Rev. Abel Phillips, a missionary in West Africa, and was educated at

Yeovil Grammar School Yeovil Grammar School was a grammar school in Yeovil, Somerset, which was founded or refounded about 1860 and closed in 1906 when its only headmaster, Henry Monk, retired. The 19th-century grammar school grew out of a long-established charity sc ...

. He then joined

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

. He held the following curacies: Holy Trinity,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

(1891), Hendford, Yeovil (1895), St. Saviour's, Croydon (1901), and

Ashtead, Surrey Ashtead is a village in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. Ashtead is on the single-carriageway A24 between Epsom and Leatherhead. The village is on the northern slopes of the North Downs an ...

(1906). In 1907 Phillips married Millicent Harriet Kynaston (ca. 1874–1964). They had one son, John Evelyn Theodore Phillips (1907-1978). In 1916 he was appointed vicar of Headley where he remained for the rest of his life. As an amateur astronomer, he observed planets including

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

making a very thorough study of the surface currents on Jupiter. He joined 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 ...

on 25 November 1896 and 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 ...

on 12 May 1899. He was director of the Jupiter section of the British Astronomical Association from 1900–1933 and director of the Saturn section from 1935–1940. He was president of the British Astronomical Association between 1914 and 1916. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society between 1927 and 1929. Has a member of the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

commission on planets. He won 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 Royal Astronomical Society in 1918. He co-wrote ''Splendour of the Heavens'' with W. H. Steavenson in 1923. In an addition to astronomy, he took an active interest in

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

References

External links

Obituaries

MNRAS 103 (1943) 70–72

(article on honorary degree from Oxford University on 28 February 1942, in lieu of obituary) {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, TER 1868 births 1942 deaths People from Kibworth 19th-century English astronomers 20th-century English astronomers 19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society People from Mole Valley (district) People educated at Yeovil School