| Authorised form of name | Brinkley; John (1763 - 1835); Bishop of Cloyne; astronomer |
| Dates | 1763 - 1835 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Woodbridge, Suffolk, England |
| Date of birth | 1763 |
| Place of death | Leeson Street, Dublin, Ireland |
| Date of death | 14 September 1835 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
The chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Clergyman, Church of Ireland |
| Research field | Astronomy |
| Mathematics |
| Activity | Education:
BA (1788, Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's prizeman) MA (1791); DD (1806) Caius College, Cambridge; Doctor of Divinity, Univesity of Dublin (1806)
Career:
Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1789-1790); worked at Greenwich Observatory under Nevil Maskelyne; chosen by Provost Hely Hutchinson on advice of Maskelyne as Andrew's Professor of Astronomy, Dublin University (1790-1827); ordained priest in the Church of England (1791); first Astronomer Royal of Ireland ( 1792); Archdeacon of Clogher (1808); awarded Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy (1818); became an authority on ecclesiatical law and was made Bishop of Cloyne (1826-1835); interested in refraction of atmosphere, measuring constants of aberration and nutation due to the motion of the earth; attempted to determine the trigonometrical parallax of bright stars leading to controversy with John Pond, FRS; was one of the first to use least-squares methods to interpret observational readings in practical astronomy; promoted 'continental' notation into calculus in Ireland and England
Memberships:
MRIA, President 1822-1835; FRAS, President 1831-1834 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 17/03/1803 |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1824 |
| Relationships | Married Esther Weld (1792) daughter of Matthew Weld of Dublin |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Irish Innovators
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1834-1835 No 22 pp 354-355
References:
Maurice Crosland, 'Explicit Qualifications as a Criterion for Membership of the Royal Society: A Historical Review' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 167-187
M Croarken, 'Astronomical labourers: Maskelyne's assistants at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1765 - 1811' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 285 - 298
Notes:
Venn gives year of birth as 1766. Baptised 31 Jan 1767 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/13089468 |
| 13089468 |
| Code | NA8145 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1802/15 | Brinkley, John, Bishop of Cloyne: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| PT/4/10 | Letter, 'On the annual parallax of α Lyræ' from Rev John Brinkley to Rev Nevil Maskelyne | [1810] |
| PT/17/16 | Paper, 'Remarks on the parallax of α lyræ' by J [John] Brinkley | [1824] |
| PT/1/7 | Paper, 'An investigation of the general term of an important series in the inverse method of finite differences' by Reverend John Brinkley | 26 February 1807 |
| PT/61/2 | Paper, 'On the formulæ investigated by Dr Brinkley for the general term in the development of Lagrange's expression for the summation of series and for successive integrations' by [John Frederick William Herschel] | 20 April 1860 |
| PT/12/14 | Paper, 'On the parallax of certain fixed stars' by Rev John Brinkley | 20 February 1818 |
| AP/11/22 | Unpublished paper, 'Memoir of the binomial calculus, the Irish calculation' by John Walsh | 11 November 1823 |
| AP/11/24 | Unpublished letter, regarding parallel lines and the sum of angles from J [John] Walsh to J F W [John Frederick William] Herschel | 10 January 1824 |
| PT/13/19 | Paper, 'The results of observations made at the Observatory of Trinity College Dublin for determining the obliquity of the ecliptic and the maximum of the aberration of light' by Rev J [John] Brinkley | [1819] |
| PT/15/26i | Paper, 'An account of observations made with the 8 feet astronomical circle, at the Observatory of Trinity College Dublin, since the beginning of the year 1818, for investigating the effects of parallax and aberration on the places of certain fixed stars; also the comparison of these with former observations for determining the effects of lunar nutation' by Rev John Brinkley | [1821] |
| HS/19/253 | Table of astronomical positions, by John Brinkley | 1822 |
| HS/19/209 | Tables of refractions, by John Brinkley | 1820s |
| MS/957/16 | Diploma of election from the Royal Irish Academy, to Captain H [Henry] Kater | 26 [?] January 1826 |
| MS/957/49 | Letter from John Brinkley, Observatory, Dublin, to 'Dear Sir' [Henry Kater] | 25 March 1820 |