AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY, K.C.B.,

M.A., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S.,

HONORARY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
ASTRONOMER ROYAL FROM 1836 TO 1881.


EDITED BY

WILFRID AIRY, B.A., M.Inst.C.E.


1896




PREFACE.

The life of Airy was essentially that of a hard-working, business man,
and differed from that of other hard-working people only in the
quality and variety of his work. It was not an exciting life, but it
was full of interest, and his work brought him into close relations
with many scientific men, and with many men high in the State. His
real business life commenced after he became Astronomer Royal, and