Editing John Couch Adams

{{Short description|British mathematician and astronomer (1819–1892)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = John Couch Adams
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|size=100%|FRS|FRSE|FRAS|country=GB}}
| image             = John Couch Adams 1870s.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = Adams {{circa|1870}}
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1819|06|5}}<ref name="eb" />
| birth_place       = [[Laneast]], Cornwall, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1892|01|21|1819|06|15}}<ref name="eb" />
| death_place       = [[Cambridge Observatory]], Cambridgeshire, England
| alma_mater        = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = [[John Hymers]]
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = {{ubl|[[Discovery of Neptune]]|[[Linear multistep method]]s|[[Tidal acceleration]]}}
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = 
| field             = {{ubl|Mathematics| [[Astronomy]]}}
| work_institutions = {{ubl|[[University of St. Andrews]]|[[University of Cambridge]]}}
| prizes            = {{ubl|[[Smith's Prize]] (1843)|[[Copley Medal]] (1848)|[[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] (1866)}} 
}}
'''John Couch Adams''' ({{IPAc-en|k|uː|tʃ}} {{respell|KOOTCH}}; 5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892) was a British mathematician and [[astronomer]].  He was born in [[Laneast]], near [[Launceston, Cornwall]], and died in [[Cambridge]].

His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position of [[Neptune]], using only mathematics. The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with [[Uranus]]'s [[orbit]] and the [[physical law|laws]] of [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]] and [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]. At the same time, but unknown to each other, the same calculations were made by [[Urbain Le Verrier]]. Le Verrier would send his coordinates to Berlin Observatory astronomer [[Johann Gottfried Galle]], who confirmed the existence of the [[planet]] on 23 September 1846, finding it within 1° of Le Verrier's predicted location. (There was, and to some extent still is, some controversy over the apportionment of credit for the discovery; see [[Discovery of Neptune]].) Later, Adams explained the origin of [[meteor showers]], which holds to the present day.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/cosmic-redemption-astronomer-john-couch-adams/ | title=The cosmic redemption of astronomer John Couch Adams | date=17 July 2024 }}</ref>

Adams was [[Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry|Lowndean Professor]] in the [[University of Cambridge]] from 1859 until his death. He won the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1866.  In 1884, he attended the [[International Meridian Conference]] as a delegate for [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]].

A [[Impact crater|crater]] on the [[Moon]] is jointly named after him, [[Walter Sydney Adams]] and [[Charles Hitchcock Adams]]. Neptune's [[Rings of Neptune|outermost known ring]] and the [[asteroid]] [[1996 Adams]] are also named after him. The [[Adams Prize]], presented by the University of Cambridge, commemorates his prediction of the position of Neptune. His personal library is held at [[Cambridge University Library]].

==Early life==
[[File:John Couch Adams 2.jpeg|thumb|John Couch Adams]]
Adams was born at Lidcot, a farm at [[Laneast]],<ref name="eb">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Adams, John Couch |volume=1 |pages=177–178}}</ref> near [[Launceston, Cornwall]], the eldest of seven children. His parents were Thomas Adams (1788–1859), a poor [[tenant farmer]], and his wife, Tabitha Knill Grylls (1796–1866). The family were devout [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Wesleyan]]s who enjoyed music and among John's brothers, Thomas became a missionary, George a farmer, and [[William Grylls Adams]], professor of [[natural philosophy]] and [[astronomy]] at [[King's College London]]. Tabitha was a farmer's daughter but had received a rudimentary education from John Couch, her uncle, whose small library she had inherited. John was intrigued by the astronomy books from an early age.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=123|title=Adams, John Couch (1819–1892)|year=2004|last=Hutchins|first=Roger}}</ref>

John attended the Laneast village school where he acquired some [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[algebra]]. From there, he went, at the age of twelve, to [[Devonport, Devon|Devonport]], where his mother's cousin, the Rev. John Couch Grylls, kept a private school.<ref name="eb"/> There he learned [[classics]] but was largely self-taught in [[mathematics]], studying in the Library of [[Devonport Mechanics' Institute]] and reading ''[[Rees's Cyclopædia]]'' and [[Samuel Vince]]'s ''Fluxions''. He observed [[Halley's comet]] in 1835 from [[Landulph]] and the following year started to make his own astronomical calculations, predictions and observations, engaging in private tutoring to finance his activities.<ref name="ODNB"/>

In 1836, his mother inherited a small estate at [[Badharlick]] and his promise as a mathematician induced his parents to send him to the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name="ODNB"/> In October 1839 he entered as a [[sizar]] at [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]], graduating [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in 1843 as [[senior wrangler]] and first [[Smith's prize]]winner of his year.<ref name="eb"/><ref>{{acad|id=ADMS839JC|name=Adams, John Couch}}</ref>

==Discovery of Neptune==
{{Main|Discovery of Neptune}}
In 1821, [[Alexis Bouvard]] had published astronomical tables of the [[orbit]] of [[Uranus]], making predictions of future positions based on [[Newton's laws of motion]] and [[Newton's law of gravitation|gravitation]].<ref>Bouvard, A. (1821) [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1821tapp.book.....B ''Tables astronomiques publiées par le Bureau des Longitudes de France''], Paris, FR: Bachelier</ref> Subsequent observations revealed substantial deviations from the tables, leading Bouvard to hypothesise some perturbing body.<ref>[Anon.] (2001) "Bouvard, Alexis", ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', Deluxe CDROM edition</ref> Adams learnt of the irregularities while still an undergraduate and became convinced of the "perturbation" theory. Adams believed, in the face of anything that had been attempted before, that he could use the observed data on Uranus, and utilising nothing more than Newton's law of gravitation, deduce the [[mass]], position and orbit of the perturbing body. On 3 July 1841, he noted his intention to work on the problem.<ref name="ODNB"/>
[[Image:Neptune Voyager2 color calibrated.png|left|thumbnail|upright=1.2|[[Neptune]] as seen by [[Voyager 2]] in 1989]]

After his [[final examination]]s in 1843, Adams was elected [[Fellow#Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin|fellow]] of his college and spent the summer vacation in Cornwall calculating the first of six iterations. While he worked on the problem back in Cambridge, he tutored undergraduates, sending money home to educate his brothers, and even taught his bed maker to read.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Apparently, Adams communicated his work to [[James Challis]], director of the [[Cambridge Observatory]], in mid-September 1845, but there is some controversy as to how. On 21 October 1845, Adams, returning from a Cornwall vacation, without appointment, twice called on [[Astronomer Royal]] [[George Biddell Airy]] in [[Greenwich]]. Failing to find him at home, Adams reputedly left a manuscript of his solution, again without the detailed calculations. Airy responded with a letter to Adams asking for some clarification.<ref name="sheehan">{{cite journal|author=Sheehan, W.|author2=Kollerstrom, Nicholas |author3= Waff, Craig B.  |title=The Case of the Pilfered Planet – Did the British steal Neptune?|journal=Scientific American|volume=291 |issue=6 |pages=92–99 |date= December 2004 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1204-92 |pmid=15597985 }}
</ref> It appears that Adams did not regard the question as "trivial", as is often alleged, but he failed to complete a response. Various theories have been discussed as to Adams's failure to reply, such as his general nervousness, procrastination and disorganisation.<ref name="sheehan"/>

Meanwhile, [[Urbain Le Verrier]], on 10 November 1845, presented to the ''[[Académie des sciences]]'' in Paris a memoir on Uranus, showing that the preexisting theory failed to account for its motion.<ref name="eb"/> On reading Le Verrier's memoir, Airy was struck by the coincidence and initiated a desperate race for English priority in discovery of the planet.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Smart, W. M. | title=John Couch Adams and the discovery of Neptune | journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume=158 | date=1946 | issue=4019 | pages=829–830 | doi=10.1038/158648a0 |bibcode = 1946Natur.158..648S | s2cid=4074284 }}</ref> The search was begun by a laborious method on 29 July.<ref name="ODNB"/> Only after the discovery of Neptune on 23 September 1846 had been announced in Paris did it become apparent that Neptune had been observed on 8 and 12 August but because Challis lacked an up-to-date star-map it was not recognized as a planet.<ref name="eb"/>

A keen controversy arose in France and England as to the merits of the two astronomers. As the facts became known, there was wide recognition that the two astronomers had independently solved the problem of Uranus, and each was ascribed equal importance.<ref name="eb"/><ref name="ODNB"/> However, there have been subsequent assertions that "The Brits Stole Neptune" and that Adams's British contemporaries retrospectively ascribed him more credit than he was due.<ref name="sheehan"/>  But it is also notable (and not included in some of the foregoing discussion references) that Adams himself publicly acknowledged Le Verrier's priority and credit (not forgetting to mention the role of Galle) in the paper that he gave 'On the Perturbations of Uranus' to the Royal Astronomical Society in November 1846:<ref>{{cite web | author=Adams, J.C. | date=1846 | url=https://archive.org/details/appendicestovari00grearich | title=On the Perturbations of Uranus |page=265 | work=Appendices to various nautical almanacs between the years 1834 and 1854 (reprints published 1851) (note that this is a 50Mb download of the pdf scan of the nineteenth-century printed book) | publisher=UK Nautical Almanac Office | access-date=23 January 2008 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|I mention these dates merely to show that my results were arrived at independently, and previously to the publication of those of M. Le Verrier, and not with the intention of interfering with his just claims to the honours of the discovery; for there is no doubt that his researches were first published to the world, and led to the actual discovery of the planet by Dr. Galle, so that the facts stated above cannot detract, in the slightest degree, from the credit due to M. Le Verrier.}}

Adams held no bitterness towards Challis or Airy<ref name="ODNB"/> and acknowledged his own failure to convince the astronomical world:<ref name="sheehan"/>

{{blockquote| I could not expect however that practical astronomers, who were already fully occupied with important labours, would feel as much confidence in the results of my investigations, as I myself did.}}

==Work style==
His lay fellowship at St John's College came to an end in 1852, and the existing statutes did not permit his re-election. However, [[Pembroke College, Cambridge|Pembroke College]], which possessed greater freedom, elected him in the following year to a lay fellowship which he held for the rest of his life.
Despite the fame of his work on Neptune, Adams also did much important work on gravitational astronomy and terrestrial magnetism.<ref name="eb"/> He was particularly adept at fine numerical calculations, often making substantial revisions to the contributions of his predecessors. However, he was "extraordinarily uncompetitive, reluctant to publish imperfect work to stimulate debate or claim priority, averse to correspondence about it, and forgetful in practical matters".<ref name="ODNB"/> It has been suggested that these are [[symptom]]s of [[Asperger syndrome]] which would also be consistent with the "repetitive behaviours and restricted interests" necessary to perform the Neptune calculations, in addition to his difficulties in personal interaction with Challis and Airy.<ref name="asperger">{{cite journal | title=John Couch Adams's Asperger syndrome and the British non-discovery of Neptune | volume=61 | date=2007 | pages=285–299 | author=Sheehan, W. |author2= Thurber, S. | journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society | doi=10.1098/rsnr.2007.0187 | issue=3| s2cid=146702903 }}</ref>

In 1852, he published new and accurate tables of the Moon's [[parallax]], which superseded [[Johann Karl Burckhardt]]'s, and supplied corrections to the theories of [[Marie-Charles Damoiseau]], [[Giovanni Antonio Amedeo Plana]], and [[Philippe Gustave Doulcet]].<ref name="eb"/>

He had hoped that this work would leverage him into the vacant post as superintendent of [[HM Nautical Almanac Office]] but [[John Russell Hind]] was preferred, Adams lacking the necessary ability as an organiser and administrator.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Lunar theory – Secular acceleration of the Moon==
Since ancient times, the [[Moon]]'s mean rate of motion relative to the stars had been treated as being constant, but in 1695, [[Edmond Halley]] had suggested that this mean rate was gradually increasing.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Halley, Edmond |title=Some Account of the Ancient State of the City of Palmyra, with remarks on the Inscriptions found there|journal=Philos. Trans. R. Soc. |year=1695 |volume=218|pages=160–175|doi=10.1098/rstl.1695.0023 |jstor=102291|s2cid=186214936|url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans06532945|doi-access=free}} Also Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (Abridgements) vol. 4 (1694–1702) pp. 60 at 65:  Halley concluded his 1695 article on middle-eastern antiquities by writing: "And if any curious traveller ... would please to observe, with due care, the phases of the moon's eclipses at Bagdat, Aleppo and Alexandria, thereby to determine their longitudes, they could not do the science of astronomy a greater service: for in and near these places were made all the observations by which the mean motions of the sun and moon are limited: and I could then pronounce in what proportion the moon's motion does accelerate; which that it does, I think I can demonstrate."  But it was left to [[Richard Dunthorne]] actually to make the first quantitative assessment of the Moon's apparent acceleration.</ref> Later, during the eighteenth century, [[Richard Dunthorne]] estimated the rate as +10" (arcseconds/century<sup>2</sup>) in terms of the resulting difference in lunar longitude,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Dunthorne, Richard |year=1749|doi=10.1098/rstl.1749.0031|title=A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Richard Dunthorne to the Reverend Mr. Richard Mason F.R.S. and Keeper of the Wood-Wardian Museum at Cambridge, concerning the Acceleration of the Moon|journal=Philosophical Transactions |volume=46 |issue=492|pages=162–172|bibcode=1749RSPT...46..162D|s2cid=186210495|doi-access=free}}<br />{{snd}} also given in Philosophical Transactions (abridgements) (1809), [https://archive.org/stream/philosophicaltra09royarich#page/669/mode/2up vol. 9 (for 1744–49), pp. 669–675] as "On the Acceleration of the Moon, by the Rev. Richard Dunthorne".</ref> an effect that became known as the ''secular acceleration of the Moon''. [[Pierre-Simon Laplace#Planetary and lunar inequalities|Pierre-Simon Laplace]] had given an [[Lunar theory|explanation]] in 1787 in terms of changes in the [[Equation of time#Eccentricity of the Earth's orbit|eccentricity of the Earth's orbit]]. He considered only the radial gravitational force on the Moon from the [[Sun]] and Earth but obtained close agreement with the historical record of observations.<ref>{{cite book | title=Orbital Motion | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hzv7k2vH6PgC&pg=PA313 | page=313 | author=Roy, A.E. | date=2005 | publisher=CRC Press | isbn=0-7503-1015-4 | location=London }}</ref>

In 1820, at the insistence of the ''[[Académie des sciences]]'', Damoiseau, Plana and [[Francesco Carlini]] revisited Laplace's work, investigating [[quadratic function|quadratic]] and higher-order perturbing terms, and obtained similar results, again addressing only a radial, and neglecting tangential, gravitational force on the Moon. Hansen obtained similar results in 1842 and 1847.<ref name="gold">{{cite journal | url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0026//0000157.000.html | title=Address on award of RAS gold medal for work on secular acceleration of the Moon | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=26 | date=1866 | page=157 | author=de la Rue, W. | author-link=Warren de la Rue |bibcode = 1866MNRAS..26..157.}}
</ref>

In 1853, Adams published a paper<ref>{{cite journal | title=On the secular variation of the Moon's mean motion | author= Adams, J.C. | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London | volume=143 | date=1853 | pages=397–406  | doi=10.1098/rstl.1853.0017| s2cid= 186213591 | doi-access= }}</ref> showing that, while tangential terms vanish in the first-order theory of Laplace, they become substantial when quadratic terms are admitted. Small terms [[integral|integrated]] in time come to have large effects and Adams concluded that Plana had overestimated the secular acceleration by approximately 1.66" per century.<ref name="gold"/>

At first, Le Verrier rejected Adams's results.<ref name="kushner">{{cite journal | author=Kushner, D. | date=1989 | title=The controversy surrounding the secular acceleration of the moon's mean motion | journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences | volume=39 | pages=291–316 | issue=4|bibcode = 1989AHES...39..291K | doi = 10.1007/BF00348444|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00348444 |jstor=41133856| s2cid=116653391 }}</ref> In 1856, Plana admitted Adams's conclusions, claiming to have revised his own analysis and arrived at the same results. However, he soon recanted, publishing a third result different both from Adams's and Plana's own earlier work. Delaunay in 1859 calculated the fourth-order term and duplicated Adams's result leading Adams to publish his own calculations for the fifth, sixth and seventh-order terms. Adams now calculated that only 5.7" of the observed 11" was accounted for by gravitational effects.<ref name="gold"/> Later that year, Philippe Gustave Doulcet, Comte de Pontécoulant published a claim that the tangential force could have no effect though [[Peter Andreas Hansen]], who seems to have cast himself in the role of [[arbitrator]], declared that the [[Legal burden of proof|burden of proof]] rested on Pontécoulant, while lamenting the need to discover a further effect to account for the balance. Much of the controversy centred around the [[Convergent series|convergence]] of the [[power series expansion]] used and, in 1860, Adams duplicated his results without using a power series. Sir [[Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet|John Lubbock]] also duplicated Adams's results and Plana finally concurred. Adams's view was ultimately accepted and further developed, winning him the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1866.<ref name="eb"/><ref name="gold"/><ref name="kushner"/> The unexplained drift is now known to be due to [[tidal acceleration]].<ref name="ODNB"/>

In 1858 Adams became professor of mathematics at the [[University of St Andrews]], but lectured only for a session, before returning to Cambridge for the Lowndean professorship of astronomy and geometry.  Two years later he succeeded Challis as director of the [[Cambridge Observatory]], a post Adams held until his death.<ref name="eb"/>

==Leonids==
[[Image:Leonids-1833.jpg|left|upright|thumb|The great Leonid shower storm of 1833]]
The great [[meteor shower]] of November 1866 turned his attention to the [[Leonids]], whose probable path and period had already been discussed and predicted by [[Hubert Anson Newton]] in 1864.<ref name="eb"/> Newton had asserted that the [[longitude of the ascending node]], that marked where the shower would occur, was increasing and the problem of explaining this variation attracted some of Europe's leading astronomers.<ref name="ODNB"/>

Using a powerful and elaborate analysis, Adams ascertained that this cluster of meteors, which belongs to the [[Solar System]], traverses an elongated ellipse in 33.25 years, and is subject to definite perturbations from the larger planets, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. These results were published in 1867.<ref name="eb"/>

Some experts consider this Adams's most substantial achievement.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/cosmic-redemption-astronomer-john-couch-adams/ | title=The cosmic redemption of astronomer John Couch Adams | date=17 July 2024 }}</ref> His "definitive orbit" for the Leonids coincided with that of the [[comet]] [[55P/Tempel-Tuttle]] and thereby suggested the, later widely accepted, close relationship between comets and meteors.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Later career==
[[File:John Couch Adams by Sir Hubert von Herkomer.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of John Couch Adams by [[Hubert von Herkomer]], {{Circa|1888}}]]
Ten years later, [[George William Hill]] described a novel and elegant method for attacking the problem of lunar motion. Adams briefly announced his own unpublished work in the same field, which, following a parallel course had confirmed and supplemented Hill's.<ref name="eb"/>

Over a period of forty years, he periodically addressed the determination of the constants in [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]'s theory of [[terrestrial magnetism]]. Again, the calculations involved great labour, and were not published during his lifetime. They were edited by his brother, [[William Grylls Adams]], and appear in the second volume of the collected ''Scientific Papers''. Numerical computation of this kind might almost be described as his pastime.<ref name="eb"/> He calculated the [[Euler–Mascheroni constant]], perhaps somewhat eccentrically, to 236 [[decimal precision|decimal places]]<ref name="ODNB"/> and evaluated the [[Bernoulli numbers]] up to the 62nd.<ref name="eb"/>

Adams had boundless admiration for Newton and his writings and many of his papers bear the cast of Newton's thought.<ref name="eb"/> In 1872, [[Isaac Newton Wallop]], 5th Earl of Portsmouth, donated his private collection of Newton's papers to [[Cambridge University]]. Adams and [[G. G. Stokes]] took on the task of arranging the material, publishing a catalogue in 1888.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction to the Newton Manuscripts Catalogue |url=http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=55 |access-date=24 August 2007 |publisher=The [[Newton Project]]}}</ref><ref>''A Catalogue of the Portsmouth Collection of Books and Papers written by or belonging to [[Sir Isaac Newton]], the Scientific Part of which has been Presented by the Earl of Portsmouth to the University of Cambridge, drawn up by the Syndicate appointed 6 November 1982'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1888</ref>

The post of [[Astronomer Royal]] was offered him in 1881, but he preferred to pursue his teaching and research in Cambridge. He was British delegate to the [[International Meridian Conference]] at [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] in 1884, when he also attended the meetings of the British Association at [[Montreal]] and of the American Association at [[Philadelphia]].<ref name="eb"/>

==Honours==
* 1847 He is reputed to have been offered a knighthood on [[Queen Victoria]]'s 1847 Cambridge visit but to have declined, either out of modesty, or fear of the financial consequences of such social distinction;<ref name="ODNB"/>
* 1847 Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]];<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=1 April 2011}}</ref>
*1848 [[Copley medal]] of the [[Royal Society]];<ref name="eb"/>
*1848 [[Adams Prize]], founded by the members of St John's College, to be given biennially for the best treatise on a mathematical subject;<ref name="eb"/>
*1849 Elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society of London]] and Honorary [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]];
*1851 and 1874 President of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] (1851–1853 and 1874–1876).<ref name="eb"/>

==Family and death==
After a long illness, Adams died at Cambridge on 21 January 1892 and was buried near his home in St Giles Cemetery, now the [[Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge|Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground]] in Cambridge.<ref>Goldie, Mark (2009) ''Churchill College Cambridge: The Guide''. Churchill College. pp. 62–63. {{ISBN|0-9563917-1-0}}.</ref> In 1863 he had married Miss Eliza Bruce (1827–1919), of [[Dublin]], who survived him, and is buried with him.<ref name="eb"/> His wealth at death was £32,434 (£2.6 million at 2003 prices).<ref name="ODNB" /><ref>{{cite journal | title=Consumer Price Inflation since 1750 | author=O'Donoghue, J. | journal=Economic Trends | volume=604 | date=March 2004 | pages=38–46| url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=726 }}</ref>

==Memorials==
*Memorial in [[Westminster Abbey]] with a portrait medallion, by [[Albert Bruce-Joy]];<ref>'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p. 56: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966</ref>
*A bust, by Joy in the hall of St John's College, Cambridge;<ref name="eb"/>
*Another youthful bust belongs to the Royal Astronomical Society;<ref name="eb"/>
*Portraits by:
**[[Hubert von Herkomer]] in Pembroke College;<ref name="eb"/>
**[[Paul Raphael Montord]] in the combination room of St John's;<ref name="eb"/>
*A memorial tablet, with an inscription by [[Edward White Benson|Archbishop Benson]], in [[Truro Cathedral]];<ref name="eb"/>
*[[Passmore Edwards]] erected a public institute in his honour at Launceston, near his birthplace;<ref name="eb"/>
*[[Adams Nunatak]], a [[nunatak]] on Neptune Glacier in [[Alexander Island]] in Antarctica, is named after him.
*Statue by Joy in [[Albert Square, Manchester]].
[[File:John_Couch_Adams_Memorial.jpg|thumb|Memorial to John Couch Adams in St Sidwell Church, [[Laneast]], Cornwall.]]

=== Obituaries ===

*''[[The Times]]'', 22 January 1892, p.&nbsp;6 col. d ([http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Adams.html link on this page])
*{{cite journal | url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/AJ.../0011//0000112.000.html | title=John Couch Adams | journal=Astronomical Journal | volume=11 | date=1892 | page=112 | author=[Anon.] | doi=10.1086/101653 | bibcode=1892AJ.....11..112.| doi-access= }}
*{{cite journal | url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0053//0000184.000.html | title=Obituary: John Couch Adams | journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] | volume=53 | date=1892 | pages=184–209 | author=J.W.L. Glaisher | doi=10.1093/mnras/53.4.184|bibcode = 1893MNRAS..53..184. | doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal | url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/Obs../0015//0000173.000.html | title=John Couch Adams | journal=The Observatory | volume=15 | date=1892 | pages=173 | author=J.W.L. Glaisher | author-link=James Whitbread Lee Glaisher |bibcode = 1892Obs....15..173G }}
*[Anon.] (1891–92) ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'' '''2''': 196–197

===About Adams and the discovery of Neptune===
*{{cite journal | author=Airy, G. B. | author-link=George Biddell Airy | title=Account of some circumstances historically connected with the discovery of the planet exterior to Uranus | journal=Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=16 | date=1847 | pages=385–414 |bibcode = 1847MmRAS..16..385A }}
*{{cite book | url=https://gutenberg.org/etext/10655 | title=The Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy | editor=Airy, W. | date=1896 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }} from [[Project Gutenberg]]
*{{cite book | title=In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Universe | url=https://archive.org/details/insearchofplanet0000baum | url-access=registration |author1=Baum, R.  |author2=Sheehan, W. | publisher=Plenum | date=1997 }}
*{{cite journal | title=Private research and public duty: George Biddell Airy and the search for Neptune | author=Chapman, A. | journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume=19 | pages=121–139 | date=1988 | issue=2|bibcode = 1988JHA....19..121C | doi=10.1177/002182868801900204 | s2cid=126074998 }}
*Doggett, L.E. (1997) "Celestial mechanics", in {{cite book | title=History of Astronomy, an Encyclopedia | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofastrono00john | url-access=registration | editor=Lankford, J. | date=1997 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofastrono00john/page/131 131–140] | publisher=Taylor & Francis | isbn=9780815303220 }}
*{{cite book | title=History of the Royal Astronomical Society [1]: 1820–1920 |editor=Dreyer, J.L.E. |editor2=Turner, H.H. | orig-year=1923 | date=1987 | pages=161–162 }}
*{{cite book | author=Grosser, M. | title=The Discovery of Neptune | date=1962 | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=0-674-21225-8 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia | author=| title = Adams, John Couch  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume = 1 | pages = 53–54  | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons | location = New York | date = 1970 | isbn = 0-684-10114-9 }}
*Harrison, H.M. (1994). ''Voyager in Time and Space: The Life of John Couch Adams, Cambridge Astronomer''. Lewes: Book Guild, {{ISBN|0-86332-918-7}}
*{{cite journal | author=Hughes, D.W. | title=J.C. Adams, Cambridge and Neptune | journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society | volume=50 | date=1996 | issue=2 | pages=245–248 | doi=10.1098/rsnr.1996.0027 | s2cid=146396595 }}
*{{cite journal | author=J.W.L.G. [J.W.L. Glaisher] | title=James Challis | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=43 | issue=4 | date=1882 | pages=160–179 | doi = 10.1093/mnras/43.4.160 |bibcode = 1883MNRAS..43..160. | doi-access=free }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/nk/neptune/index.htm |title=Neptune's Discovery. The British Case for Co-Prediction. |access-date=19 March 2007 |last=Kollerstrom |first=Nick |author-link=Nicholas Kollerstrom |date=2001 |publisher=University College London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051111190351/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/nk/neptune/index.htm |archive-date=11 November 2005 }}
*{{cite book | title=The Planet Neptune: An Historical Survey before Voyager | publisher=Praxis | date=1996 | author=Moore, P. | author-link=Patrick Moore }}
*{{cite journal | date=1904 | title=A description of Adams's manuscripts on the perturbations of Uranus | author=Sampson, R.A. | journal=Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=54 | pages=143–161 |bibcode = 1904MmRAS..54..143S }}
*{{cite journal | author=| title=John Couch Adams and the discovery of Neptune | journal=[[Occasional Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society]] | volume=2 | date=1947 | pages=33–88 }}
*{{cite journal | title=The Cambridge network in action: the discovery of Neptune | author=Smith, R.W. | journal=Isis | volume=80 | pages=395–422 | date=1989 | doi=10.1086/355082 | issue=303| s2cid=144191212 }}
*{{cite book | date=2000 | title=The Neptune File | author=Standage, T. | publisher=Penguin Press }}
* [[Raymond Lyttleton|Lyttleton, Raymond Arthur]], (1968) ''Mysteries of the Solar System'', Clarendon, Oxford, UK (1968), Chapter 7: The discovery of Neptune<ref>{{cite book| last = Lyttleton| first = Raymond Arthur| title = Mysteries of the Solar System| date = 1968 | publisher =Clarendon Press| place =Oxford|pages=215–250}}</ref>

===By Adams===
*Adams, J.C., ed. W.G. Adams & [[Ralph Allen Sampson|R. A. Sampson]] (1896–1900) ''The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams'', 2 vols, London: Cambridge University Press, with a memoir by [[James Whitbread Lee Glaisher|J.W.L. Glaisher]]:
**Vol. 1 (1896) Previously published writings;<ref>{{cite journal|author=Brown, Ernest W.|author-link=Ernest William Brown|title=Review: ''The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams'', Vol. I, ed. by W.G. Adams, with a memoir by J.W.L. Glaisher|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|date=1897|volume=3|issue=6|pages=225–227|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1897-00404-9|doi-access=free}}</ref>
**Vol. 2 (1900) Manuscripts including the substance of his lectures on the Lunar Theory.<ref name =Brown1901>{{cite journal|author=Brown, Ernest W.|title=''The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams'', Vol. II, Part 1 ed. by R.A. Sampson, Part 2 ed. by W.G. Adams|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|date=1901|volume=7|issue=6|pages=272–278|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1901-00798-7|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*Adams, J.C., ed. R.A. Sampson (1900) [https://archive.org/details/lecturesonlunar01sampgoog ''Lectures on the Lunar Theory''], London: Cambridge University Press<ref name="Brown1901"/>
*A collection, virtually complete, of Adams's papers regarding the discovery of Neptune was presented by Mrs Adams to the library of St John's College, see: Sampson (1904), and also:
**"The collected papers of Prof. Adams", ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'', '''7''' (1896–97)
**''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical  Society'', '''53''' 184;
**''Observatory'', '''15''' 174;
**''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', '''34''' 565; '''45''' 301;
**''Astronomical Journal'', No. 254;
**R. Grant, ''History of Physical Astronomy'', p.&nbsp;168; and
**''[[Edinburgh Review]]'', No. 381, p.&nbsp;72.
*The papers were ultimately lodged with the Royal Greenwich Observatory and evacuated to [[Herstmonceux Castle]] during World War II. After the war, they were stolen by [[Olin J. Eggen]] and only recovered in 1998, hampering much historical research in the subject.<ref name="eggen">{{cite web | author=Kollerstrom, N. | date=2001 | url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/nk/neptune/takes.htm | title=Eggen takes the papers | work=The British Case for Co-prediction | publisher=University College London | access-date=23 August 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050206110748/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/nk/neptune/takes.htm | archive-date=6 February 2005 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Cornwall}}
* [[Richard Christopher Carrington#Intrigue at RAS and Cambridge Observatory|Intrigue at RAS and Cambridge Observatory]] from the biography of [[Richard Christopher Carrington]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Couch Adams}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Adams.html Biography on the St Andrews database]
* {{ScienceWorldBiography | urlname=Adams | title=Adams, John Couch (1819–1892)}}
* {{MacTutor Biography | id=Adams}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Adams, John Couch|year=1905 |short=x}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Adams, John Couch|year=1920 |short=x}}
* Davor Krajnovic, [https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.03886 John Couch Adams: mathematical astronomer, college friend of George Gabriel Stokes and promotor of women in astronomy]

{{Copley Medallists 1801-1850}}
{{Neptune}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John Couch}}
[[Category:1819 births]]
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[[Category:People from Launceston, Cornwall]]
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[[Category:Neptune]]
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