Abstract
IT was with deep regret that the news of the sudden death of Dr. Common had to be announced in the last number of this Journal. Dr. Common was so hale and hearty that it came as a great shock to his friends to find that he was no more, and his loss is felt not only by a great circle of friends, but by the astronomical1 world at large. Born in 1841, August 7, Dr. Andrew Ainslie Common was by profession an engineer, but quite at an early date he turned his attention to astronomy. In 1874 he became the possessor of a 5½-inch refractor, and three years later of an 18-inch reflector by Calver. It was evidently the use of the latter instrument which sowed the seed for his later important researches in the making and silvering of both large and small mirrors. An idea of his remarkable energy and success in the grinding and silvering of mirrors can be gathered from the following list of large reflectors in use which he referred to in his presidential address to Section A (Department of Astronomy) of the British Association in 1900. This list only referred to reflectors of 2ft. 6in. and upwards, and out of the nine given five were from his own workshop.
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LOCKYER, W. Dr. A. A. Common, F.R.S. . Nature 68, 132–133 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068132a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068132a0