Sydney Samuel Hough FRS (11 June 1870,

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

– 8 July 1923,

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England, separated from the London Borough of Hillingdon at Harefield by Denham, south of Chalfont St Peter and north bordering villages of Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver Heath and St ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

) was a British applied mathematician and astronomer. Hough studied at Christ's Hospital and then obtained a scholarship to Cambridge. He graduated in 1892 B.A. and in 1896 M.A. from

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

and was a Fellow there from 1895 to 1901. He was an assistant master at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

in 1894. At South Africa's Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, he was from 1898 to 1907 the chief assistant of David Gill and, upon Gill's retirement in 1906, the director from 1907 to 1923. When he first joined Gill, Hough was outstanding in applied mathematics but had little experience in practical astronomy — however, Hough learned quickly from Gill and provided valuable assistance. Hough concentrated on the completion of Gill's programme and compiled five of the twelve volumes of the Southern African part of the

Carte du Ciel The Carte du Ciel (literally, 'Map of the Sky') and the Astrographic Catalogue (or Astrographic Chart) were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue an ...

. Hough measured with high accuracy the positions of more than 20,000 stars. Hough was elected in 1899 a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and in 1902 a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1908 became the first President of the Royal Society of South Africa. His mathematical work was mainly concerned with the

theory of tides The theory of tides is the application of continuum mechanics to interpret and predict the tidal deformations of planetary and satellite bodies and their atmospheres and oceans (especially Earth's oceans) under the gravitational loading of anot ...

References

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External links

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publications by S.S. Hough
in Astrophysics Data System {{DEFAULTSORT:Hough, Sydney Samuel 1870 births 1923 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 20th-century British astronomers 20th-century English mathematicians Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa People educated at Christ's Hospital British people in the Cape Colony Teachers at Winchester College

See also

References

External links