| Authorised form of name | Rigaud; Stephen Peter (1774 - 1839); astronomer |
| Dates | 1774 - 1839 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Richmond, Surrey, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 12 August 1774 |
| Place of death | The house of his old friend, Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, Pall Mall, London |
| Date of death | 16 March 1839 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
St James's, Piccadilly, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Astronomer; mathematician |
| Research field | Astronomy |
| Mathematics |
| History of science |
| Activity | Education:
Mr Delafosse's school, Richmoond; Exeter College, University of Oxford. BA (1797), MA (1799)
Career:
Exeter College, University of Oxford, Fellow (1794-1810), Savilian Professor of Geometry and reader in experimental philosophy (1810-1827), Savilian Professor of Astronomy (1827-1839); observer to the King at Kew, succeeding his father (1814); Radcliffe Observer, Oxford (1827); gave experimental philosophy lectures in the Ashmolean museum; public examiner for University of Oxford mathematics scholarship; proctor to the Oxford University Press; member of the Board of Longitude
Memberships:
FRAS; Ashmolean Society (founding member)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 13/06/1805 |
| Age at election | 30 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
VP 1837-1838 |
| Relationships | Son of Stephen Rigaud observer at the Kew Observatory and Mary nee Demainbray; married (1815) Christian Walker Jordan, daughter of Gibbes Walker Jordan (FRS 1800) colonial agent of Barbados |
| PublishedWorks | https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n86823401/ |
| OtherInfo | Rigaud was elected to the Royal Society in recognition of his expertise in mathematics and knowledge of the history of mathematics.
Riguad played a role in the the claims of his brother-in-law Joseph William Jordan for compensation after the emancipation of enslaved people. Rigaud signed at the National Debt Office for the compensation for the enslaved people on three estates of Jordan's in Barbados. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Wikipedia; UCL LBS
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1839 No 40 pp 175-176
References:
J M Edmonds and J A Douglas, 'William Buckland, FRS (1784-1856) and an Oxford Geological Lecture, 1823' in NR 1975-6 vol 30 pp 141-167
David Layton, 'Lord Wrottesley, FRS, Pioneer Statesman of Science' in NR 1968 vol 23 pp 230-246
H E Bell, 'The Savilian Professors' Houses and Halley's Observatory at Oxford' in NR 1961 vol 16 pp 179-186
'Stephen Peter Rigaud', Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146631700 [accessed 23rd July 2020]
AssocMaterial:
Papers and library held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Collection of scientific ephemera in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/62329050 |
| Code | NA1263 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/003828 | Rigaud, Stephen Peter | nd |
| IM/003829 | Rigaud, Stephen Peter | July 1976 |
| PT/2/9/2 | Plate, drawings of pendulum length and movement by [Stephen Peter Rigaud] | [1808] |
| MC/2/173 | Letter from Stephen Peter Rigaud, Oxford, to John William Lubbock, [Treasurer of the Royal Society] | 28 May 1835 |
| EC/1805/04 | Rigaud, Stephen Peter: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| PT/2/9 | Paper, 'An account of Mr [Joseph] Finney's method of compensating for the effects of heat and cold on the length of pendulums' by S [Stephen] P [Peter] Rigaud | [1808] |
| MC/1/41 | Letter from Stephen Peter Rigaud, Richmond, to the Royal Society | 12 August 1814 |
| MC/2 | Volume 2 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1832-1838 |
| MC/2/76 | Letter from Professor [Stephen Peter] Rigaud, Observatory Oxford, to John William Lubbock, Treasurer of the Royal Society | 12 April 1833 |
| MC/1 | Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1800-1831 |
| PT/2/9/1 | Manuscript, 'An account of Mr [Joseph] Finney's method of compensating for the effects of heat and cold on the length of pendulums' by S [Stephen] P [Peter] Rigaud | [1808] |