as a sizar in 1819, and after a brilliant career in mathematical and
physical science he graduated as Senior Wrangler in 1823. It may be
noted as an exceptional circumstance that, notwithstanding the
demands on his time in studying for his tripos, he was able, after
his second term of residence, to support himself entirely by taking
private pupils. In the year after he had taken his degree he was
elected to a Fellowship at Trinity College.

Having thus gained an independent position, Airy immediately entered
upon that career of scientific work which he prosecuted without
intermission almost to the very close of his life. One of his most
interesting researches in these early days is on the subject of
Astigmatism, which defect he had discovered in his own eyes. His
investigations led him to suggest a means of correcting this defect
by using a pair of spectacles with lenses so shaped as to counteract
the derangement which the astigmatic eye impressed upon the rays of
light. His researches on this subject were of a very complete
character, and the principles he laid down are to the present day
practically employed by oculists in the treatment of this
malformation.

On the 7th of December, 1826, Airy was elected to the Lucasian
Professorship of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, the
chair which Newton's occupancy had rendered so illustrious. His
tenure of this office only lasted for two years, when he exchanged it
for the Plumian Professorship. The attraction which led him to
desire this change is doubtless to be found in the circumstance that
the Plumian Professorship of Astronomy carried with it at that time
the appointment of director of the new astronomical observatory, the
origin of which must now be described.