John Couch Adams

John Couch Adams 1819-92, English astronomer, grad. St. John's College, Cambridge, 1843. By mathematical calculation based on irregularities in the motion of Uranus, he predicted the position of the then unknown planet Neptune. Because of delay in England in making a telescopic search for the planet, the credit for the discovery went to a Frenchman, Leverrier . In 1858, Adams became professor of mathematics at St. Andrews Univ., but he soon returned to Cambridge, to occupy the Lowndean chair of astronomy and geometry until his death. From 1861 he was also director of the university observatory, preferring this post to that of astronomer royal, which was offered to him in 1881. He made valuable studies of the moon's motions, of the Leonids in the great meteor shower of 1866, and of terrestrial magnetism. His collected papers, edited by his brother, were published (1896-1900) at Cambridge.

Adams, John Couch (1819–92) British astronomer. Noting that Uranus' observed path was not in agreement with its calculated orbit, Adams believed that the discrepancies could be accounted for by the gravitational influence of an undiscovered planet. Neptune, as it was subsequently called, was discovered near a position predicted by Urbain Leverrier.

Adams, JohnCouch (1819–92)English mathematical astronomer. In 1843 he began to calculate the orbit of a new planet whose gravitational effects would explain why Uranus did not follow its predicted path. But he did not complete his calculations or publish them. In 1846 the new planet, subsequently named Neptune, was sighted by J. G.Galle as a result of independent calculations by U. J. J.Le Verrier. Adams and Le Verrier were eventually both credited with predicting Neptune's existence, although it is now clear that the credit belongs mainly to Le Verrier. Adams' later work included calculation of the Moon's secular acceleration, and of the orbital elements of the Leonid meteor swarm.