John Goodricke

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John Goodricke (September 17, 1764 – April 20, 1786) was an eminent and profoundly deaf amateur astronomer. He was born in Groningen in the Netherlands, but lived most of his life in England. He was named after his grandfather Sir John Goodricke.

He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782. ('Variable' means that it appears to turn 'on and off'.)

Although several stars were already known to vary in apparent magnitude, Goodricke was the first to propose a mechanism to account for this. He suggested that Algol is what is now known as an eclipsing binary. He presented his findings to the Royal Society in May 1783, and for this work, the Society awarded him the Copley Medal for that year. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on April 16, 1786. He never learned of this honour however, as he died four days later, probably from pneumonia.

Goodricke was profoundly deaf through most of his life, due to scarlet fever in early childhood. His parents sent him to Thomas Braidwood's Academy, a school for the deaf in Edinburgh, and then, in 1778, to the Warrington Academy.

After leaving the Academy, he returned to live with his parents in York. There, he became friends with Edward Pigott, whose father Nathaniel Pigott had built a sophisticated private observatory. Edward was already interested in variable stars, and he gave Goodricke a list of those that he thought were worthy of observation.

Between October 2005 and March 2006, Sean Ellingham and James Valner from the University of York undertook a project to find the position of Goodricke's observatory using the data he recorded. A 1949 study by Sidney Melmore has shown that he worked from Treasurer's House, near York Minster. By recreating his observations, the two students were able to conclude that he had observed from the Eastern-most window of the second floor, looking south towards the Minster.

Goodricke College at the University of York is named after Goodricke. There is also a modern sculpture named Algol in the grounds.

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Goodricke's life and astronomical work. Features animations of different types of variable stars.

Goodricke College

Goodricke is discussed as one of the strange astronomer stories along with people like Carl Sagan dying of a blood disease, Hale interacting with elves (according to Notre Dame Physics Staff Person article on the internet and some databases, Kris Kriscianas' work), and Shoemaker getting in a car accident. Articles will sometimes mention a relationship between Goodricke's pneumonia and his observation of certain objects. The question of association between observation and pathology is certainly an interesting one.

James Timothy Thomas Struck