Ralph Allan Sampson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1866-06-25)25 June 1866 |
| Died | 7 November 1939(1939-11-07) (aged 73) |
| Occupation | Astronomer |
Ralph Allan (or Allen) SampsonFRS[1]FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a Britishastronomer.
Sampson was born inSchull,County Cork inIreland, then part of theUK. He was the fourth of five children[2] to James Sampson, a Cornish-born metallurgical chemist, and his wife, Sarah Anne Macdermott.[3]
The family moved toLiverpool and Sampson attended theLiverpool Institute and then graduated fromSt. John's College,Cambridge in 1888.[4] In 1891 he was awarded a scholarship to carry out astronomical research atCambridge University. (He had been a student of astronomerJohn Couch Adams, and helped to edit and publish Part I of the second volume of Adams' papers in 1900).
In 1893, Sampson was made Professor ofMathematics atDurham College of Science inNewcastle-on-Tyne and was elected Professor of Mathematics atDurham University in 1895. In December 1910, he becameAstronomer Royal for Scotland (until 1937) and Professor of Astronomy at theUniversity of Edinburgh. He did pioneering work in measuring thecolor temperature of stars. He did important research into the theory of the motions ofJupiter's four Galileansatellites, for which he won theGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1928. He served as president of theRoyal Astronomical Society from 1915 to 1917.
In June 1903, Sampson was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.[1][5] In 1911 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were SirFrank Watson Dyson, SirJames Walker,Arthur Robinson, andJames Gordon MacGregor. He served as the Society's Vice President 1915 to 1918 and as Secretary 1922-23 and General Secretary 1923 to 1933. He won theirKeith Prize for 1919–1920.
At the fifthInternational Congress of Mathematicians held in 1912 inCambridge, Sampson presented a paper entitledSome points in the theory of errors.[6]
He retired in 1937 aged 71 due to failing health, and subsequently moved to Bath.[7][8]
He died, aged 73, inBath, Somerset on 7 November 1939.
In 1893 he married Ida M. Binney (1868-1940) of the Prescott (Liverpool) area, south Lancashire. She died a year later than her husband in Poole, Dorset.[9]His daughter,Peggie Sampson (1912-2004) was a professional cellist and educator. His brotherJohn Sampson was a linguist and Romany scholar.
The craterSampson on theMoon is named after him.
