- John was a pioneering deaf astronomer who died tragically young at age 21, shortly after receiving the Royal Society’s highest scientific honour.
Early Life and Deafness
- Born on 17th September 1764 in Groningen, Netherlands, but lived most of his life in England.
o - Goodricke became profoundly deaf around age five due to a severe illness.
o - His wealthy parents ensured he received education tailored to his needs, sending him to Thomas Braidwood’s Academy for the Deaf in Edinburgh in Scotland, then to Warrington Academy in Warrington, Cheshire in England, known for its progressive science curriculum.
o - The school where he was known as a talented mathematician and where his interest in Astronomy probably developed.
o - Goodricke’s notebooks from Warrington show that he was already observing the sky at the age of 15.
o - He completed the three-year course of study at Warrington and returned to York. He began a journal recording his observations of the sky as well as his conversations with his neighbour Edward Pigott.
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John Goodricke
Astronomical Achievements
- After leaving Warrington, Goodricke completed the three-year course of study at Warrington and returned to live with his parents in York.
o - John was setting in York and became friends with his neighbour Edward Pigott, a young astronomer whose father Nathaniel Pigott had built a private observatory.
o - John began a journal recording his observations of the sky as well as his conversations with his neighbour Edward Pigott.
o - Edward was already interested in variable stars, and he gave Goodricke a list of those that he thought were worthy of observation.
o - At just 17 years old, John Goodricke began observing variable stars ~ those whose brightness changes over time.
o - In 1782, he made his most famous discovery: the periodic dimming of Algol (Beta Persei), which he correctly attributed to an eclipsing binary system.
o - His work earned him the Copley Medal in 1783, the Royal Society’s highest scientific award, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ~ a rare honour for someone so young and outside the academic establishment.
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Death and Legacy
- Goodricke died on 20th April 1786, at the age of 21 ~ just three years after receiving the Copley Medal, likely from pneumonia or a respiratory illness.
o - He had been conducting observations in cold weather, and some speculate this contributed to his decline.
o - Despite his short life, Goodricke’s insights laid the groundwork for understanding stellar variability and distance measurement in astronomy.
o - Edward Pigott carried on the observations and discovered several other variable stars.
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Did you know?
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- Goodricke College is a college of the University of York.
o - It was founded in 1968 and named after the astronomer John Goodricke.
o - The college has approximately 1500 undergraduate members, of which some 500 live in college accommodation, and about 140 postgraduate members, of which most live in college accommodation.
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