Algernon Charles Gifford (18 April 1861 – 27 February 1948) was anastronomer,explorer andteacher.[1]
Gifford was born off theCape of Good Hope aboard theZealandia and upon arrival in New Zealand his family settled inOamaru. In 1880 he became asizar atSt John's College,Cambridge and graduated as 14thwrangler.[2] After Cambridge he returned to New Zealand to teach mathematics and science atWaitaki Boys' High School (1883-1889),Christ's College (1889-1892) andWellington College (1895-1927). He also helped create anobservatory in 1912, which is named theGifford Observatory in his honour.
In 1901 Gifford married Suzie Jones at Oamaru and had three children.
Near the end of his teaching career Gifford started to contribute regular astronomy articles to theEvening Post, one ofWellington's daily newspapers, which later turned into an influential column. His columns were later reprinted as booklets in 14 volumes under the nameIn Starry Skies, and eventually combined to form an introductory textbook.
Through meetingAlexander Bickerton he became a supporter of Bickerton'sPartial impact theory and enthusiastically explored and polished the theory.
He was an aptmathematician, and one of the first people to provide evidence thatcraters on theMoon are the result ofmeteorite impact. Publications of his mathematically justified theories in 1924 and 1930 contributed to the theory, which was later confirmed. Before this time, it had been popularly believed that craters on the Moon were caused by volcanic activity.
Although best known for his enthusiastic promotion of astronomy in New Zealand, including the establishment of the observatory in his name, he was also a respected explorer. Charles Gifford was one of the early photographic documenters of much of the back country within New Zealand'sSouth Island. In 1939,Mount Gifford on South Island was named in his honour.
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