Francis Baily (28 April 177430 August 1844) was an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of "Baily's beads" during a total eclipse of the Sun. Baily was also a major figure in the early history of the Royal Astronomical Society, as one of the founders and as the president four times.

Life

Baily was born at Newbury in Berkshire in 1774 to Richard Baily. After a tour in the unsettled parts of North America in 1796–1797, his journal of which was edited by Augustus De Morgan in 1856, Baily entered the London Stock Exchange in 1799. The successive publication of Tables for the Purchasing and Renewing of Leases (1802), of The Doctrine of Interest and Annuities (1808), and The Doctrine of Life-Annuities and Assurances (1810), earned him a high reputation as a writer on life-contingencies; he amassed a fortune through diligence and integrity and retired from business in 1825, to devote himself wholly to astronomy.

Astronomical work

thumb|left|upright|On the new method of determining the longitude by the culmination of the moon and stars, 1824

By 1820, Baily had already taken a leading part in the foundation of the Royal Astronomical Society, for his preparation of the Society's Catalogue of 2881 stars (Memoirs R. Astr. Soc. ii.). No other person has served in the position more than Baily's four times (a record he shares with George Airy), whilst his eight years in the post are a record.

The reform of the Nautical Almanac in 1829 was initiated by his protests. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1832. He recommended to the British Association in 1837, and in great part executed, the reduction of Joseph de Lalande's and Nicolas de Lacaille's catalogues containing about 57,000 stars; he superintended the compilation of the British Association's Catalogue of 8377 stars (BAC, published 1845); and revised the catalogues of Tobias Mayer, Ptolemy, Ulugh Beg, Tycho Brahe, Edmund Halley and Hevelius (Memoirs R. Astr. Soc. iv, xiii.)., as was the rigid and thermally insensitive alloy used to cast the 1855 standard yard (Baily's metal, 16 parts copper, 2.5 parts tin, 1 part zinc), and a local primary school in the town of Thatcham (Francis Baily CofE Primary School).

References

Further reading

  • Map of Etoiles fixes
  • British Association Catalogue of 8377 Stars
  • Awarding of RAS gold medal, 1827: MNRAS 1 (1827) 14
  • Awarding of RAS gold medal, 1843: MNRAS 5 (1843) 248