ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 3 
man that virtually he was without a rival competitor. In 1824 
he was made a Fellow of Trinity College and appointed to the 
Lucasian Chair of Mathematics. . Here he distinguished himself 
by his contributions to “ Optics.” In one of his papers at this 
time he announced his discovery of an optical malady of the 
human eye, now known as “astigmatism,” and provided a remedy 
for it. In 1828 he resigned his position to accept that of Plumian 
Professor of Astronomy and Superintendent of the newly-erected 
Cambridge Observatory. His ability, energy, and singularly 
methodical habits introduced so many improvements into obser- 
vatory practice in this position as to make this period of his life 
quite an epoch in modern astronomy. . 
In 1835, Mr. Pond, the Astronomer Royal died, and the Prime 
- Minister at once conferred the appointment upon Mr. Airy. The 
appointment warrant contained the old clause which had been in 
the first warrant of appointment of Astronomer Royal for England 
in which he was directed “to apply himself with the most exact 
care and diligence to the rectifying the tables of the motions of 
the heavens and the places of the fixed stars in order to find out 
the so much desired longitude at sea for the perfecting the art 
of navigation.” Greenwich Observatory was established two 
hundred and seventeen years ago, and Mr. Airy throughout the 
forty years he was Astronomer, felt that his primary duty was 
to carry out these instructions. It is needless to say that in his 
new capacity he entirely reorganized the Observatory : furnished 
it with new and powerful instruments of his own design, and from 
time to time added new departments—extrameridian observations, 
spectroscopy, solar photography, magnetism, meteorology, Wc., &c., 
as the progress of science demanded. Time would fail me to 
even give a mere outline of his varied and invaluable labours. 
Perhaps the strongest testimony is found in the fact that Greenwich 
became by the force of his strong individuality the model Obser- 
vatory for Europe and America, and eventually modified the 
systems of working in most other Observatories. Outside his 
