Ernest William Brown

Ernest William Brown
Ernest William Brown, from the American Mathematical Society
Born	(1866-11-29)29 November 1866 Hull, England
Died	22 July 1938(1938-07-22) (aged 71) New Haven, Connecticut
Citizenship	United Kingdom United States
Nationality	English
Fields	Mathematics Astronomy
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge
Doctoral advisor	George Howard Darwin
Known for	Lunar theory Celestial mechanics
Influenced	Wallace John Eckert
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1914) James Craig Watson Medal (1937) Fellow of the Royal Society (1897)
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Ernest William Brown FRS (29 November 1866 – 22 July 1938) was a English mathematician and astronomer, who spent the majority of his career working in the United States and became a naturalised American citizen in 1923.

His life's work was the study of the Moon's motion (lunar theory) and the compilation of extremely accurate lunar tables. He also studied the motion of the planets and calculated the orbits of Trojan asteroids.

Brown was born in Hull, England, the second of four children of William and Emma Brown (née Martin). His father was originally a farmer and later became a timber merchant. His mother and younger brother died of scarlet fever in 1870, when Brown was not quite 4 years old. He and his two sisters were then looked after by a maiden aunt, until his father remarried five years later.

Brown was educated at Totteridge Park School, Hertfordshire (now part of Dorset House School) and Hull and East Riding College. After leaving school, he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with first-class honours as sixth Wrangler in mathematics in 1887. He continued with post-graduate studies at Cambridge and worked under the direction of George Howard Darwin. In the summer of 1888, Darwin suggested that he study the papers of George William Hill on the lunar theory. As it turned out, this idea for a line of research was to have a major impact on the remainder of Brown's life.