Born Nottingham, England, 12 May 1823
Died Twickenham, Lincolnshire, England, 23 December 1895
The son of a Nottingham lace manufacturer, John Hind's astronomical career began inauspiciously enough – he was hired at 16 as a supernumerary computer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory of George Airy . Airy was an early proponent of a factory model for his observatory; among other practices, he introduced a rigid timetable for his assistants' work, including the then novel practice of “clocking in,” which promoted a severe disciplinary regime. Edward Maunder , a later assistant, recalled that under Airy's “remorseless sweating,” assistants did not typically survive past the age of 46.
Hind was and remained an efficient computer and survived in this grinding role for several years. He also served as an assistant in the Magnetic Department of the Royal Observatory, and participated in the Government Chronometer Expedition to determine the longitude of Valentia, Ireland. In June 1844, he...
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Selected References
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Sheehan, W. (2007). Hind, John Russell. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_626
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