John
Goodricke 1764-1786
On April 20th
1786 John Goodricke died. He was not quite 22. He was one of the ‘Fathers of
Variable Star Astronomy’ when from 1781-1786 working with Edward Pigott he made
York in England one of the astronomical centres of the world. He explained the
variations of Beta Perseus known by its name as Algol. He suggested that there
were two objects eclipsing each other.
He
discovered the variable star Delta Cepheus which astronomers use today to work
out how far away galaxies are from Earth.
In addition he also discovered the variable
star Beta Lyra
.
All this he
achieved as well as being deaf and unable to speak. There was clearly nothing wrong
with his thinking processes.
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