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Linda French |
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John Goodricke (1764-1786) of York, England, is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures in the history of astronomy. With his collaborator and mentor Edward Pigott, Goodricke determined the periods of variability of such important stars as Algol, Delta Cephei, and Beta Lyrae. His accomplishments are even more significant when one considers that he was profoundly deaf, and that he died at the age of 21. Goodricke and Pigott were the first to propose that the dimming of the Algol system was due to eclipses by an unseen body; thus foreshadowing the modern use of transits to detect exoplanets. The reception of their observations and hypotheses will be discussed. |