- Samuel Molyneux
Infobox Scientist
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birth_date =16 July 1689
birth_place =Chester, England
death_date =13 April 1728
death_place =Kew
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nationality =United Kingdom
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field =astronomy
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known_for =aberration of light
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footnotes =Samuel Molyneux FRS (16 July 1689 – 13 April 1728), son of
William Molyneux , was a 18th century member of the British parliament fromKew and amateur astronomer whose work withJames Bradley attempting to measure stellar parallax led to the discovery of theaberration of light . The aberration was the first definite evidence that the earth moved and that Copernicus and Kepler were correct. Science and Its Times via cite web|url=http://www.bookrags.com/William_Molyneux|title=William Molyneux Summary|accessdate=2007-07-24] cite book |last=Hirschfeld |first=Alan |authorlink= |title=Parallax:The Race to Measure the Cosmos |year=2001 |publisher=Henry Holt |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-8050-7133-4 ] cite web |url=http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/m/Molyneux,S/life.htm |title=Samuel Molyneux |accessdate=2007-07-24 |publisher=Prince Grace Irish Library(Monaco)] In addition to his astronomical works, Molyneux wrote about the natural history and other features ofIreland .Life
Molyneux was born in
Chester, England in 1689 and died in Kew in 1728. He was the second son of William Molyneux, who known for his work related to optics. Molyneux studied atTrinity College, Dublin , where he earned aBachelor of Arts (BA) in 1708 and a Master of Arts (MA) in 1710. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1712. and served as a member of the Parliament in 1715, 1726, 1727 and Ireland 1727, and as Lord of the Admiralty from 1727–1728.Astronomical Work
Molyneux is most known for his work with Bradley in attempting to measure the parallax of
Gamma Draconis leading to the discovery of theaberration of light . Molyneux was interested in detectingparallax that others suchRobert Hooke had attempted but failed to detect. Unlike Hooke, Molyneux had large amounts of patience and had resources to expend. Like Hooke, Molyneux decided to take advantage ofGamma Draconis always being over London. Molyneux commissioned a larger set of telescopes and employedJames Bradley as an expert who had more astronomical and mathematical knowledge. Working together, Bradley and Molyneux performed over 80 observations to a precision of greater than 1arcsecond from December of 1725 until late in 1727. Measurements of this precision had never before been performed with telescopes. Bradley and Molyneux were surprised to find that rather than detect a parallax they detected an unexplained wobble of the star. Moreover, similar wobbles were found by Bradley using another high-precision telescope for some 200 other stars. Molyneux died shortly before Bradley realized that the observed changes they were seeing was in fact due to the aberration of light.Parliament
Molyneux was
Member of Parliament (MP) for Bossiney from 1715 to 1722, for St Mawes from 1726 to 1727, and for Exeter from 1727 to 1728. [Rayment-hc]Notes
References
*Rayment-hc
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