Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin (6 February 1865 – 20 September 1939) was an astronomer of French and Huguenot descent who was born in Cushendun, County Antrim, Ireland.[1][2][3][4][5] He was educated in England at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge. After a spell teaching at Lancing College he found permanent employment at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1891.[6][7] He joined the Royal Astronomical Society in 1888 and was its president from 1929-1931. In 1895 he joined the British Astronomical Association and was president from 1904-1906 and directed its comet section 1898-1901 and 1907-1938.[8]
In 1910 for their studies of Halley’s Comet Crommelin and Philip Herbert Cowell jointly received the Prix Jules Janssen from the Société astronomique de France.[9][10] For this work they also received the Lindemann prize of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in Germany.[11][12]
In 1914 Crommelin published an introductory book on astronomy “The Star World”.[13]
Crommelin had four children, of whom two died in a climbing accident on Pillar Rock, Ennerdale, in 1933.[14] The de la Cherois line was succeeded through Crommelin's daughter Andrina. The author May Crommelin was one of Andrews cousins.
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/ACDCrommelin-early.jpg/220px-ACDCrommelin-early.jpg)
An expert on comets, his calculation of orbits of previously identified Comet Pons 1818 II, Comet Coggia-Winnecke 1873 VII, and Comet Forbes 1928 III in 1929, showed that these were one and the same periodic comet.[15][16] It thus received the rather unwieldy name "Comet Pons-Coggia-Winnecke-Forbes". In 1948, he was posthumously honored when the comet was renamed after him alone (today, in modern nomenclature, it is designated 27P/Crommelin). This is similar to the case of Comet Encke, where the periodic comet is named after the person who determined the orbit rather than the possibly-multiple discoverers and re-discoverers at each apparition. In 1937 Crommelin and Mary Proctor jointly published a book entitled "Comets: Their Nature, Origin, and Place in the Science of Astronomy”.[17]
Crommelin took part in several solar eclipse expeditions including those of 1896, 1900 and 1905.[18][19][20] In 1919 he went to Sobral, in Brazil, and measured the amount of deflection of light caused by the gravitational field of the Sun.[21] The results from these observations were crucial in providing confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity, which Albert Einstein had proposed in 1916.
Named after Crommelin
editReferences
edit- ^ Davidson, C. R. (1940). "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 100 (4): 234–36. Bibcode:1940MNRAS.100..234D. doi:10.1093/mnras/100.4.234. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ "Obituary: Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin". The Observatory. 63 (788): 11–13. 1940. Bibcode:1940Obs....63...11. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ Phillips, T. E. R. (1940). "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 50 (2): 75–78. Bibcode:1939JBAA...50...75. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ Williams, Thomas R. (2014). "Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer Publishing. pp. 483–484. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9042. ISBN 978-1-4419-9917-7.
- ^ Meadows, A. Jack (2004). "Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois". Crommelin, Andrew Claude de la Cherois (1865–1939), astronomer | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57187.
- ^ "Crommelin, Andrew Claude [D'Elacherois or De La Cherois] (CRMN883AC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "A.C.D. Crommelin". www.crommelin.org. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "1939JBAA...50...75. Page 75". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- ^ "EN-Janssen Prize – Société astronomique de France". saf-astronomie.fr. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "1910JBAA...20..387. Page 391". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ "Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ Cowell, Philip Herbert; Crommelin, Andrew Claude De la Cherois (1910). Essay on the return of Halleys comet. University of California Libraries. Leipzig, In kommission bei W. Engelmann. Bibcode:1910erhc.book.....C.
- ^ CROMMELIN, Andrew Claude de la Cherois (1914). The Star World. Collins.
- ^ "1933JBAA...43..387. Page 390". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ "1936AN....261...83C Page 83/84". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1936AN....261...83C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "1929MNRAS..89..556C Page 556". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1929MNRAS..89..556C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ Proctor, Mary; Crommelin, A. C. D. (1937). Comets. Osmania University, Digital Library Of India. The Technical Press Limited Company.
- ^ "1898MmBAA...6R..23C Page 23". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1898MmBAA...6R..23C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ British Astronomical Association; Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter) (1901). The total solar eclipse, 1900; report of the expeditions organized by the British astronomical association to observe the total solar eclipse of 1900, May 28. University of California Libraries. London, "Knowledge" office.
- ^ British Astronomical Association (1906). The Total Solar Eclipse, 1905: Reports of Observations Made by Members of the British ... New York Public Library. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
- ^ "1919Obs....42..368C Page 368". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1919Obs....42..368C. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ "(1899) Crommelin". (1899) Crommelin In: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer. 2003. p. 152. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1900. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7.