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Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin

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Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin (6 February 1865 – 20 September 1939) was an astronomer of French and Huguenot descent who was born in Cushendun, County Antrim, Ireland.[1][2][3][4][5] He was educated in England at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge. After a spell teaching at Lancing College he found permanent employment at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1891.[6][7] He joined the Royal Astronomical Society in 1888 and was its president from 1929-1931. In 1895 he joined the British Astronomical Association and was president from 1904-1906 and directed its comet section 1898-1901 and 1907-1938.[8]

In 1910 for their studies of Halley’s Comet Crommelin and Philip Herbert Cowell jointly received the Prix Jules Janssen from the Société astronomique de France.[9][10] For this work they also received the Lindemann prize of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in Germany.[11][12]

In 1914 Crommelin published an introductory book on astronomy “The Star World”.[13]

Crommelin had four children, of whom two died in a climbing accident on Pillar Rock, Ennerdale, in 1933.[14] The de la Cherois line was succeeded through Crommelin's daughter Andrina. The author May Crommelin was one of Andrew’s cousins.

Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.

An expert on comets, his calculation of orbits of previously identified Comet Pons 1818 II, Comet Coggia-Winnecke 1873 VII, and Comet Forbes 1928 III in 1929, showed that these were one and the same periodic comet.[15][16] It thus received the rather unwieldy name "Comet Pons-Coggia-Winnecke-Forbes". In 1948, he was posthumously honored when the comet was renamed after him alone (today, in modern nomenclature, it is designated 27P/Crommelin). This is similar to the case of Comet Encke, where the periodic comet is named after the person who determined the orbit rather than the possibly-multiple discoverers and re-discoverers at each apparition. In 1937 Crommelin and Mary Proctor jointly published a book entitled "Comets: Their Nature, Origin, and Place in the Science of Astronomy”.[17]

Crommelin took part in several solar eclipse expeditions including those of 1896, 1900 and 1905.[18][19][20] In 1919 he went to Sobral, in Brazil, and measured the amount of deflection of light caused by the gravitational field of the Sun.[21] The results from these observations were crucial in providing confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity, which Albert Einstein had proposed in 1916.

Named after Crommelin

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References

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  1. ^ Davidson, C. R. (1940). "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 100 (4): 234–36. Bibcode:1940MNRAS.100..234D. doi:10.1093/mnras/100.4.234. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Obituary: Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin". The Observatory. 63 (788): 11–13. 1940. Bibcode:1940Obs....63...11. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  3. ^ Phillips, T. E. R. (1940). "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 50 (2): 75–78. Bibcode:1939JBAA...50...75. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  4. ^ Williams, Thomas R. (2014). "Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer Publishing. pp. 483–484. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9042. ISBN 978-1-4419-9917-7.
  5. ^ Meadows, A. Jack (2004). "Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois". Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois (1865–1939), astronomer | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57187.
  6. ^ "Crommelin, Andrew Claude [D'Elacherois or De La Cherois] (CRMN883AC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  7. ^ "A.C.D. Crommelin". www.crommelin.org. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  8. ^ "1939JBAA...50...75. Page 75". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  9. ^ "EN-Janssen Prize – Société astronomique de France". saf-astronomie.fr. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  10. ^ "1910JBAA...20..387. Page 391". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  12. ^ Cowell, Philip Herbert; Crommelin, Andrew Claude De la Cherois (1910). Essay on the return of Halleys comet. University of California Libraries. Leipzig, In kommission bei W. Engelmann. Bibcode:1910erhc.book.....C.
  13. ^ CROMMELIN, Andrew Claude de la Cherois (1914). The Star World. Collins.
  14. ^ "1933JBAA...43..387. Page 390". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  15. ^ "1936AN....261...83C Page 83/84". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1936AN....261...83C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  16. ^ "1929MNRAS..89..556C Page 556". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1929MNRAS..89..556C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  17. ^ Proctor, Mary; Crommelin, A. C. D. (1937). Comets. Osmania University, Digital Library Of India. The Technical Press Limited Company.
  18. ^ "1898MmBAA...6R..23C Page 23". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1898MmBAA...6R..23C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  19. ^ British Astronomical Association; Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter) (1901). The total solar eclipse, 1900; report of the expeditions organized by the British astronomical association to observe the total solar eclipse of 1900, May 28. University of California Libraries. London, "Knowledge" office.
  20. ^ British Astronomical Association (1906). The Total Solar Eclipse, 1905: Reports of Observations Made by Members of the British ... New York Public Library. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  21. ^ "1919Obs....42..368C Page 368". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1919Obs....42..368C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  22. ^ "(1899) Crommelin". (1899) Crommelin In: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer. 2003. p. 152. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1900. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7.
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