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Airy was the seventh Astronomer Royal, a post he held for 46 years from 1835 to 1881. In 1826 Airy’s first book on astronomy was immediately adopted as a university textbook and he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, followed in 1828 by becoming the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and director of the new university observatory. Here he introduced a new system of meridian observation, later continued at Greenwich, where he was appointed as Astronomer Royal on 18th June 1835. His regime was one of extraordinary energy and high scientific achievement, particularly in precision astronomy devoted to the improvement of navigation and the closely related field of time measurement, but also in magnetism and other areas. He completely re-equipped the Observatory, including in 1851 with the great Airy Transit Circle, which from that year formed the basis of Greenwich time measurement and its transmission by telegraph on a national and subsequently a world-wide basis.
This portrait was presumably painted to mark Airy’s retirement and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884. This was the year that Longitude 0 at Greenwich was agreed as Prime Meridian for the world, and Greenwich Mean Time thereby the world standard, at the Meridian Conference in Washington DC, which in public terms is Airy's greatest monument as 'father of Greenwich Time'.
The artist, a successful portraitist, was educated at Eton and the Slade. His father Sir Robert Collier, 1st Baron Monkswell, was also a capable amateur painter and they both exhibited works at the Royal Academy.
Title
Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–1892)
Date
1883
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 127 x W 101.5 cm
Accession number
BHC2507
Work type
Painting