John Tebbutt

John Tebbutt (25 May 1834 – 29 November 1916) was an Australian astronomer, famous for discovering the "Great Comet of 1861".

Tebbutt was born at Windsor, New South Wales, the only son of John Tebbutt, then a prosperous store keeper. His grandfather, John Tebbutt, was one of the early settlers in Australia; he arrived at Sydney about the end of 1801. Tebbutt was educated first at the Church of England parish school, then at a private school kept by the Rev. Mathew Adam of the local Presbyterian church, and finally at a small but excellent school under the Rev. Henry Tarlton Stiles, where he had a sound training in Latin.

in 1845 Tebbutt's father purchased a tract of land at the eastern end of the town of Windsor known as the peninsula, and built a residence there. In 1853 John Tebutt purchased a sextant and using this along with an ordinary marine telescope and a watch begun his observations of the heavens.

About nine years later, on 13 May 1861, Tebbutt discovered the 1861 comet, one of the most brilliant comets known. There was no means then of telegraphing the intelligence to England where it became visible on 29 June. Tebbutt was acknowledged as the first discoverer of this comet, and the first computer of its approximate orbit. In November 1861 he purchased an excellent refracting telescope of 3.25-inch (8.3 cm) aperture and 48-inch (1.2 m) focal length, and in 1862 on the resignation of the Rev. W. Scott he was offered the position of government astronomer for New South Wales but refused it.

In 1863 he built, with his own hands, a small observatory close to his father's residence, and installed his instruments consisting of his 3¼-inch telescope, a two-inch transit instrument, and an eight-day half-seconds box-chronometer. Shortly before this period Tebbutt had begun to record meteorological observations, and in 1868 published these for the years 1863 to 1866 under the title Meteorological Observations made at the Private Observatory of John Tebbutt, Jnr.

He continued the publication of these records at intervals for more than 30 years. He had also begun a long series of papers which were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, in the Astronomical Register, London, and in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He contributed to other scientific journals, and made an immense number of contributions to the Australian press.

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