Airy and positional astronomy

Abstract

Sir George Airy (18011891), the seventh Astronomer Royal, made major contributions in numerous fields including many not directly concerned with astronomy. Throughout his life, however, he had a deep interest in fundamental aspects of astronomy, and constantly endeavoured to improve the instrumentation and procedures used for the measurement of astronomical positions. His principal achievements in this field were the refinement of techniques for the mathematical reduction of positional observations and their timely publication, and the design of a new generation of positional instruments which revitalized the work of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and proved to be influential for the next hundred years.