Andrews Professor of Astronomy
The Andrews Professor of Astronomy is a chair in astronomy in the University of Dublin associated with the directorship of Dunsink Observatory.[1]
Dunsink was founded in 1783 by Francis Andrews, under the same endowment as the observatory, and was regulated by a new Statute of Trinity College Dublin, which required the professor to "make regular observations of the heavenly bodies ... and of the sun, moon and planets". The chair was vacant after 1921 and revived in 1984 as an honorary title for the Head of the School of Cosmic Physics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, who had been Director of the observatory since the School's creation in 1947.
From 1793, under letters patent of King George III, the Andrews Professor held the title Royal Astronomer of Ireland. This title fell vacant in 1966 and has not been revived.
List of the professors
- 1783-1790: Henry Ussher (1741–1790)
- 1790-1827: John Brinkley (1763–1835)
- 1827-1865: William R Hamilton (1805–1865)
- 1865-1874: Franz Brünnow (1821–1891)
- 1874-1892: Robert Ball (1840–1913)
- 1892-1897: Arthur Rambaut (1859-923)
- 1897-1906: Charles Joly (1864–1906)
- 1906-1912: Edmund Whittaker (1873–1956)
- 1912–1921: Henry Plummer (1875–1946)
- 1921–1936: Charles Martin
- 1936–1947: vacant
- 1947–1957: Hermann Brück (1905–2000)
- 1958–1963: Mervyn Ellison (1909–1963)
- 1964–1992: Patrick Wayman
- 1993–1994: vacant
- 1994–2019: Luke Drury
- 2019–present: Luciano Rezzolla
References
- Wayman, P. A. (March 1986). "The Andrews' Professors of Astronomy and Dunsink Observatory, 1785–1985". Irish Astronomical Journal. 17 (3): 167–183. Bibcode:1986IrAJ...17..167W.