Background
John Birmingham was born in 1816 and was an only child. He grew up in Millbrook Estate, just outside Milltown, Co Galway, and lived with his parents Edward and Ella Birmingham nee Bell.
St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, United Kingdom
John was educated in St. Jarlath’s College in Tuam.
St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, United Kingdom
John was educated in St. Jarlath’s College in Tuam.
Hans Carl Frederik Christian Schjellerup (February 8, 1827 – November 13, 1887) was a Danish astronomer.
Astronomer Polymath amateur geologist poet
John Birmingham was born in 1816 and was an only child. He grew up in Millbrook Estate, just outside Milltown, Co Galway, and lived with his parents Edward and Ella Birmingham nee Bell.
John was educated in St. Jarlath’s College in Tuam.
In 1846 and 1847 Birmingham was active in Famine relief around Tuam. In 1852 he visited Rome. When he returned home in 1854 he built up a network of newspapers and magazines to which he started contributing articles on scientific and other matters. He first attracted attention with his articles on sedimentary rocks in the west of Ireland which he contributed to the Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin.
In 1872, at the suggestion of T. W. Webb, Birmingham undertook the revision of the catalog of red stars assembled in 1866 by H. C. F. C. Schjellerup. This task occupied him for four years. His catalog of 658 red stars, supplemented by numerous spectroscopic observations, was presented to the Royal Irish Academy on 26 June 1876, and was recognized by the award of the Academy’s Cunningham Medal in 1884. On his deathbed Birmingham requested that Webb produce a revision of the catalog, but the task was undertaken by T. E. Espin and completed by him in 1888.
In the 1870’s Birmingham published a number of papers on the members of the solar system, especially on features of the moon and of Jupiter.
At the time of his death he was an inspector of applications for loans under the Land Law (Ireland) Act.
Birmingham became prominent when, on 12 May 1866, while walking home from a friend’s house, he noticed in Corona Borealis a new star of the second magnitude, later termed T Coronae. This nova was the brightest since that of 1604 and the first to be identified with an existing star: it had been listed in the Bonn Durchmusterung as of magnitude 9.5, and by the beginning of June 1866 it had returned to the ninth magnitude. It was also the first nova to be subjected to spectroscopic examination, and William Huggins’ visual and spectroscopic observations showed that it consisted of a star surrounded by a shell of hydrogen. T Coronae is remarkable for the fluctuations in the decline of its brightness and for its recurrence in 1946.
John Birmingham, using a 4.5-inch (110 mm) Cooke refractor, made a special study of red stars and revised and extended Schjellerup’s Catalogue of Red Stars. Six hundred and fifty eight of these objects were included. He presented this work to the Royal Irish Academy in 1876 and was awarded the Cunningham Medal. In 1881 he discovered a deep red star in Cygnus constellation. This star is named after him.
Also, Birmingham was noted for a series of his published works dedicated to the subject of the members of the solar system, especially on features of the moon and of Jupiter.
While in college, John was said to have "a giants physique with childlike humility", which made him very much liked by his peers and tenants alike. Between 1844 and 1854, John traveled extensively around Europe, becoming proficient in several languages.
John Birmingham was a country gentleman and amateur astronomer, who thought nothing of walking the 8 miles to Tuam to perform business transactions and 8 miles back home again in a day.
John never married, although he was reputed to have illegitimate children.
