Manuel John Johnson facts for kids

Manuel John Johnson (born May 23, 1805 – died February 28, 1859) was a British astronomer. He was a very important scientist who studied the stars and helped us learn more about space. He built observatories and made amazing discoveries about how stars move.

Manuel Johnson: A Star Gazer

Manuel John Johnson was born in Macao, China. His father, John William Roberts, worked for the East India Company. This was a big British company that traded goods around the world. Manuel went to school at Mr. Styles' Classical Academy in Thames Ditton. He also studied at the Addiscombe Military Seminary. This training prepared him to work for the East India Company, just like his father.

Building an Observatory in St. Helena

In 1823, the East India Company sent Manuel to St. Helena. This is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean. From 1826, he oversaw the building of the Ladder Hill Observatory there. He even traveled to South Africa twice. He went to get advice from another astronomer, Fearon Fallows, on how to design the observatory. In 1828, Manuel became the leader, or Superintendent, of this new observatory.

Discoveries in the Southern Sky

In 1835, Manuel published a very important book. It was called A Catalogue of 606 Principal Fixed Stars in the Southern Hemisphere... at St. Helena. This book listed many stars he had observed from the Southern Hemisphere. For this amazing work, he won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in the same year.

While comparing his star observations with those of another astronomer, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, Manuel noticed something special. He saw that a star called Alpha Centauri was moving quite fast across the sky. This movement is called "proper motion." He shared this information with Thomas Henderson. Henderson worked at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. Manuel's discovery helped lead to the first successful measurement of how far away a star is. This measurement is called "stellar parallax."

Leading the Radcliffe Observatory

Manuel returned to the United Kingdom in 1833. He went to Magdalen Hall, Oxford University and finished his studies in 1839. After that, he became the director of the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. He led this observatory from 1839 until he passed away in 1859.

At the Radcliffe Observatory, Manuel introduced new types of instruments. These were "self-registering meteorological instruments." They could automatically record changes in weather conditions. They measured things like atmospheric pressure (how much the air pushes down), temperature, humidity (how much moisture is in the air), and atmospheric electricity. These instruments even used a new invention called photography to record the information. The first of these special instruments were created and set up by Francis Ronalds. The Radcliffe Observatory later became part of a network of weather stations. These stations were set up by the new Meteorological Office.

A Recognized Scientist

Manuel John Johnson was a highly respected scientist. He served as the president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1855 to 1857. In 1856, he was also chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in Britain. In 1850, he married Caroline Ogle.