John Brinkley, Bishop of Cloyne ( 1763 - 1835 )

Birth: Woodbridge, Suffolk, England (1763) Death: Leeson Street, Dublin, Ireland (14 September 1835) Burial: The chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Profession: Clergyman, Church of Ireland Research Field: Astronomy, mathematics Education: BA (1788, Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's prizeman) MA (1791); DD (1806) Caius College, Cambridge; Doctor of Divinity, Univesity of Dublin (1806) Career: Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1789-1790); worked at Greenwich Observatory under Nevil Maskelyne; chosen by Provost Hely Hutchinson on advice of Maskelyne as Andrew's Professor of Astronomy, Dublin University (1790-1827); ordained priest in the Church of England (1791); first Astronomer Royal of Ireland ( 1792); Archdeacon of Clogher (1808); awarded Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy (1818); became an authority on ecclesiatical law and was made Bishop of Cloyne (1826-1835); interested in refraction of atmosphere, measuring constants of aberration and nutation due to the motion of the earth; attempted to determine the trigonometrical parallax of bright stars leading to controversy with John Pond, FRS; was one of the first to use least-squares methods to interpret observational readings in practical astronomy; promoted 'continental' notation into calculus in Ireland and England Memberships: MRIA, President 1822-1835; FRAS, President 1831-1834 Membership: Fellow Election Date: 17/03/1803 Medals/Prizes: Copley Medal 1824.