George Darwin

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Sir George Howard Darwin, F.R.S. (July 9, 1845 – December 7, 1912) was a British astronomer and mathematician, the second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin.

He was born at Down House. He studied under Charles Pritchard, went on to study at Cambridge University, was admitted to the bar, but returned to science. In 1883 he became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge University.

He studied tidal forces involving the Sun, Moon, and Earth.

He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1892, and also later served as president of that organization.

Darwin married Martha (Maud) du Puy of Philadelphia. They had two sons and two daughters:

• Gwen Raverat (1885-1957), artist.
• Charles Galton Darwin (1887-1962), physicist.
• Margaret Elizabeth Darwin (1890-1974), married Sir Geoffrey Keynes.
• William Robert Darwin (1894-?)

[edit] External links

• O'Connor, John J., and Edmund F. Robertson. "George Darwin". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
• "The Genesis of Double Stars" - by George Darwin, fom A.C. Seward's Darwin and Modern Science (1909).
• details of correspondence