John Brinkley went on to Caius College, Cambridge, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree as senior wrangler in 1788.
In 1791, Brinkley was awarded Cambridge Master of Arts (MA Cantab).
Career
Achievements
Membership
Royal Society
1803
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
In 1803, John Mortimer Brinkley was elected to the Royal Society of London.
John M. Brinkley was elected, in 1822, President of the Royal Irish Academy and continued in this position until his death in 1835.
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
1825 - 1827
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BQ, United Kingdom
John Brinkley was president of the Astronomical Society from 1825 to 1827, and its president from 1831 to 1833.
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
1831 - 1833
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BQ, United Kingdom
John Brinkley was president of the Astronomical Society from 1825 to 1827, and its president from 1831 to 1833.
Awards
Copley Medal
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
John Brinkley was awarded the Royal Society's Copley medal in 1824 for his work on stellar parallax. At the time of the award, it was not realized that his results were incorrect. Nevertheless, despite the error, it was important work deserving recognition.
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
John Brinkley was awarded the Royal Society's Copley medal in 1824 for his work on stellar parallax. At the time of the award, it was not realized that his results were incorrect. Nevertheless, despite the error, it was important work deserving recognition.
John Brinkley went on to Caius College, Cambridge, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree as senior wrangler in 1788.
In 1791, Brinkley was awarded Cambridge Master of Arts (MA Cantab).
John Mortimer Brinkley was an Irish Anglican bishop, and the first Royal Astronomer of Ireland, whose major work was in the field of stellar astronomy, and also he prepared the excellent textbook Elements of Plane Astronomy, published in 1808.
Background
John M. Brinkley was born in 1763, in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, the son of John Toler, a wine merchant, and Sarah Brinkley, a butcher's daughter. John Toler and Sarah Brinkley never married and, on October 18, 1770, Sarah married Jacob Boulter of Boot Inn, Great Bealings, Suffolk, who was an innkeeper.
Although John Brinkley was illegitimate, he was brought up by his mother and stepfather, who supported him financially.
Education
John Brinkley received his early education at Woodbridge Grammar School and with a Mr. Tilney of Harleston. He went on to Caius College, Cambridge, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree as senior wrangler in 1788. During his senior year, he was assistant to N. Maskelyne at Greenwich and was fellow of his college from 1788 to 1792.
Upon Maskelyne’s personal recommendation he was appointed Andrews professor of astronomy at Dublin University, December 11, 1790. The following year Brinkley was ordained a priest at Lincoln and received his Cambridge Master of Arts (MA Cantab) in 1791.
In 1806, John Brinkley had become a Doctor of Divinity (DD).
In 1792 Brinkley was incorporated at Dublin and elected first astronomer royal for Ireland.
Between 1790 and 1808 he prepared the excellent textbook Elements of Plane Astronomy, published in 1808, and ten mathematical papers, some with direct application to celestial astronomy.
Upon acquiring a splendid eight-foot meridian circle in 1808, Brinkley attempted to determine the long-sought parallax of the fixed stars, with a view to determining their distances. Two years later he announced the detection of an annual (double) parallax for a Lyrae of 2".52, and in 1814 similarly large values of 2″.0, 5″.5, 2″.2, and 2″.1 for the stars α Lyrae, α Aquilae, Arcturus, and α Cygni, respectively. The validity of these measurements was disputed in the literature for fourteen years by Pond, who was unable to deduce analogous results with Greenwich instruments. This controversy, by necessitating repeated tests of the observations, was of great value in stimulating the study of previously unappreciated factors affecting the measurements. Brinkley’s results, although now themselves discredited, thus led to the later successful detection of stellar parallaxes.
Among Brinkley’s other major works were the publication of a new theory of astronomical refractions (1815), estimation of the obliquity of the ecliptic (1819), determination of north polar distances of the principal fixed stars (1815, 1824), and determination of the precession of the equinoxes (1828). He also used the south polar distances of certain fixed stars observed by Sir Thomas Brisbane at Paramatta, New South Wales, to investigate the accuracy of separate determinations by himself and by Bessel of their north polar distances (1826).
His astronomical career ended with his elevation, after numerous ecclesiastical preferments, as bishop of Cloyne, September 28, 1826. Shortly after he resigned his Professorship. Dr. Brinkley, as Bishop, promoted many exemplary curates, whose labors had been overlooked by his predecessors, and he separated several parishes from his see, to give the inhabitants the benefit of a resident rector.
John Brinkley was ordained deacon in Ely Cathedral in 1790 and became a priest at Lincoln Cathedral in the following year.
Membership
In addition, John M. Brinkley was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HFRSE).
Royal Society
,
United Kingdom
1803
Royal Irish Academy
,
Ireland
1822 - 1835
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
,
United Kingdom
1825 - 1827
Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
,
United Kingdom
1831 - 1833
Connections
On July 12, 1792, John M. Brinkley married Esther, daughter of Matthew Weld of Molesworth Street, Sheriff of Dublin City. Brinkley and his wife were the parents of two sons and a daughter.
Great Astronomers
Of all the natural sciences there is not one which offers such sublime objects to the attention of the inquirer as does the science of astronomy.
John Brinkley was awarded the Royal Society's Copley medal in 1824 for his work on stellar parallax. At the time of the award, it was not realised that his results were incorrect. Nevertheless, despite the error, it was important work deserving recognition.
John Brinkley was awarded the Royal Society's Copley medal in 1824 for his work on stellar parallax. At the time of the award, it was not realised that his results were incorrect. Nevertheless, despite the error, it was important work deserving recognition.