Henry Kater (April 16, 1777 – April 26, 1835),
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
of
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
descent, was born at
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
.
At first he purposed to study
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
; but this he abandoned on his father's death in 1794, and entered the army, obtaining a commission in the 12th regiment of foot, then stationed in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, where he rendered valuable assistance to
William LambtonLieutenant-Colonel William Lambton, FRS was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer.Lambton was the Superintendent of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, which he began in 1802. He died and is buried at Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra...
in the
Great Trigonometric SurveyThe Great Trigonometric Survey was a project of the Survey of India throughout most of the 19th century. It was piloted in its initial stages by William Lambton, and later by George Everest. Among the many accomplishments of the Survey were the demarcation of the British territories in India, and...
. Failing health obliged him to return to England; and in 1808, being then a lieutenant, he entered on a distinguished student career in the senior department of the
Royal Military College at SandhurstThe Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre...
.
Henry Kater (April 16, 1777 – April 26, 1835),
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
of
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
descent, was born at
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
.
At first he purposed to study
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
; but this he abandoned on his father's death in 1794, and entered the army, obtaining a commission in the 12th regiment of foot, then stationed in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, where he rendered valuable assistance to
William LambtonLieutenant-Colonel William Lambton, FRS was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer.Lambton was the Superintendent of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, which he began in 1802. He died and is buried at Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra...
in the
Great Trigonometric SurveyThe Great Trigonometric Survey was a project of the Survey of India throughout most of the 19th century. It was piloted in its initial stages by William Lambton, and later by George Everest. Among the many accomplishments of the Survey were the demarcation of the British territories in India, and...
. Failing health obliged him to return to England; and in 1808, being then a lieutenant, he entered on a distinguished student career in the senior department of the
Royal Military College at SandhurstThe Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre...
. Shortly after he was promoted to the rank of captain. In 1814 he retired on half-pay, and devoted the remainder of his life to scientific research.
His first important contribution to scientific knowledge was the comparison of the merits of the Cassegrainian and
Gregorian telescopeThe Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer, James Gregory in the 17th century and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke...
s, determining the latter to be an inferior design.
His most valuable work was the invention of
Kater's pendulumA Kater's pendulum is a reversible freeswinging pendulum invented by British physicist and army captain Henry Kater in 1817 for use as a gravimeter instrument to measure the local acceleration of gravity. Its advantage is that, unlike previous pendulum gravimetry methods, the pendulum's centre of...
, enabling the strength of gravity to be determined, first at
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and subsequently at various stations throughout the country.
As the inventor of the floating
collimatorIn optics, a collimator may consist of a curved mirror or lens with some type of light source and/or an image at its focus. This can be used to replicate a target at infinity without parallax...
, Kater rendered a great service to practical
astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
(
Phil. Trans.The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, or Phil. Trans., is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society.Begun in 1665, it is the oldest scientific journal printed in the English-speaking world and the second oldest in the world, after the French Journal des sçavans...
, 1825, 1828). He also published memoirs (Phil. Trans., 1821, 1831) on British
standards of length and massMetrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement.-Introduction:...
; and in 1832 he published an account of his labours in verifying the Russian standards of length. For his services to
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in this respect he received in 1814 the decoration of the order of St. Anne; and the same year he was elected a fellow of the
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
. In 1826, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademin is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2 June...
.
He won the
Copley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
in 1817 and the
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical SocietyThe Gold Medal is the highest award of the Royal Astronomical Society.-History:In the early years, more than one medal was often awarded in a year, but by 1833 only one medal was being awarded per year. This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should...
in 1831.
His attention was also turned to the subject of
compassA compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the Earth's magnetic poles. It consists of a magnetized pointer free to align itself with Earth's magnetic field. The compass greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel...
needles, his Bakerian lecture "On the Best Kind of Steel and Form for a Compass Needle" (Phil. Trans., 1821) containing the results of many experiments. The treatise on "Mechanics" in
LardnerDionysius Lardner , was an Irish scientific writer who popularised science and technology, and edited the 133-volume Cabinet Cyclopedia.-Early life in Dublin:...
's
Cyclopaedia was partly written by him; and his interest in more purely astronomical questions was evidenced by two communications to the Astronomical Society's
Memoirs for 1831–1833 — the one on an observation of
SaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant...
's outer ring, the other on a method of determining
longitudeLongitude , identified by the Greek letter lambda , is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement...
by means of
lunar eclipseA lunar eclipse is an eclipse which occurs whenever the moon passes behind the earth such that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a...
s.
External links
Obituaries