Charles Pritchard
| Charles Pritchard | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 29 February 1808 |
| Died | 20 May 1893 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Influences | John Herschel |
| Notable awards | Royal Medal (1982) |
Reverend Charles Pritchard (29 February 1808 – 28 May 1893) was a British astronomer, clergyman, and educational reformer.
He founded the Clapham Grammar School in 1834 and included sciences in the curriculum. A chapel was erected in 1846.
He was born at Alberbury, Shropshire and attended Poplar Academy where he was taught by , the progressive educationalist. Pritchard later described his studies as consisting of "a systematic course of instruction relating to physical phenomena". At sixteen he was enrolled as a sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1830 as fourth wrangler. In 1832 he was elected a fellow of his college, and in the following year he was ordained, and became head of a private school at . From 1834 to 1862 he was headmaster of Clapham grammar school. He then retired to Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, and took an active interest in the affairs of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he became honorary secretary in 1862 and president in 1866. His sister, Margaret died this same year.
His career as a professional astronomer began in 1870, when he was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford. At his request the university decided to build a fine equatorial telescope for the instruction of his class and for purposes of research, a scheme which, as a result of Warren de la Rue's munificent gift of instruments from his private observatory at Cranford, expanded into the establishment of the new university observatory. By De la Rue's advice, Pritchard began his career there with a determination of the physical libration of the moon, or the nutation of its axis.
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