Arthur Cowper Ranyard

Arthur Cowper Ranyard (21 June 1845 – 14 December 1894) was an English astrophysicist.

Born at Swanscombe, Kent, he was son of Benjamin Ranyard by his wife Ellen Henrietta Ranyard (née White). Ranyard attended University College School, London, from 1857 to 1860, afterwards proceeding to University College. Here the influence of Professor Augustus De Morgan led him to concentrate his attention on mathematics and astronomy, and he formed an intimate friendship with the professor's son George. In 1864 the two friends formed the plan for a society for the special study of mathematics, and issued a circular inviting attendance at the first meeting of "the University College Mathematical Society" on 7 Nov. 1864. The first meeting mentioned in the minutes of the society, however, was held on 16 January 1865, when De Morgan was elected president, and Messrs. Cozens-Hardy and Henry Mason Bompas secretaries. After the president's inaugural address Ranyard read the first paper, 'On Determinants'. The new association received the support of eminent mathematicians, and ultimately developed into the present London Mathematical Society.

Proceeding to Cambridge, Ranyard entered Pembroke College in October 1865, and graduated M.A. in 1868. Adopting the law as his profession, he was called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1871; but his tastes lay in the direction of science, and his means enabled him to devote much of his time to astronomy. He became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1863, was a member of the council (1872–88 and 1892–4), and was secretary (1874–80). He was assistant secretary of the expedition for observing the total solar eclipse of 1870, and made a successful series of polariscopic observations at in Sicily. In 1878 he went to Colorado to view the solar eclipse of that year, which he observed and photographed at a station near Denver In 1882 he observed and photographed the total solar eclipse at Sohag in Upper Egypt.

...
Wikipedia