For Deaf Astronomer John Goodricke, The Sky Was No Limit
Sep 17, 2018, 10:31pm
Kiona N. Smith
Contributor
September 17 marks the 254th birthday of astronomer John Goodricke, whose brief career laid the groundwork for much of what we know today about variable stars.
Like far too many children of his era, Goodricke fell seriously ill as a young boy. We'll never know for sure which illness caused the fever that left him deaf by the age of six; it could have been measles, mumps, or a potentially lethal respiratory infection called whooping cough or pertussis (all three of which can now be prevented by common vaccines), but another likely candidate is scarlet fever, caused by a particular group of streptococcus bacteria. He survived the fever -- likely thanks to a combination of luck and his parents' ability to afford medical care; Goodricke's father was a British diplomat, and his grandfather a baronet who held a seat in Parliament and a position on King George III's Privy Council.
Without a healthy dose of luck and resilience, the family's wealth still might not have been enough to save young Goodricke's life, but it did ensure his education in a time when most people with disabilities had few options and little access. Specifically, the Goodricke family could afford the pricey tuition at Thomas Braidwood's Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, the first school in the British Isles for deaf students. Braidwood taught his curriculum along with lip-reading and a precursor to today's British Sign Language. Goodricke enrolled at the age of 7, and by 1778 had moved on to secondary studies at a private school with an emphasis on math and the sciences.
More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/09/17/for-deaf-astronomer-john-goodricke-the-sky-was-no-limit/#1618254a67d4
He had already developed an interest in astronomy by the time he arrived at Warrington, so it's no surprise that he quickly formed a friendship, when he returned home to York after graduation in 1781, with his family's neighbor, astronomer Edward Pigott. Pigott had his own private observatory and a growing interest in variable stars: stars whose brightness appeared to change, usually at regular intervals. In the fall of 1782, he enlisted young Goodricke in his observations of a few particularly interesting variable stars. (It's important to note, here, that even with all the barriers he must have faced as a deaf person in the late eighteenth century, Goodricke quickly formed a productive scientific collaboration with Pigott, and he also corresponded regularly with the likes of William Herschel and Astronomer Royal Nevil Masklyne.)
