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A picture of the main street in Edgworthstown in Co.Longford

Family Life:

Kenneth Edgeworth’s parents we’re called Thomas Newcomen Edgeworth (1850-1931) and Elizabeth Durpé Wilson. The Edgeworth family originated from Kilshrewly, Co. Longford. The family that Edgeworth was born into was ‘the archetypal gentleman literary and scientific families’ (McFarland, 1996). The literary link is said to have come more from the Edgeworth side of the family and the scientific link being mainly from the Wilson side. When Edgeworth was born, two subdivisions existed within the in existence Edgeworth family. The superior side descended from Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and the inferior side descended from Kilshrewly branch.

Edgeworth was born at Daramona House in the year 1880, and this house was located in County Westmeath. This house seemed to be his uncles, William Edward Wilson. William Wilson was a past Irish astronomer, and that would make it seem that his nephew, Kenneth was inspired to follow in his famous uncle's footsteps. The house, Daramona House that Edgeworth was born in appeared to play a notable part in the growth of his astronomical career. His uncle William also played a big part in his famous career as it was he who recommended the ‘Royal Astronomical Society' which was formed nearly 200 years ago to Kenneth so he could learn more about what he wanted to pursue a career in . It is based on Piccadilly in London. The Royal Astronomical Society is a society which supports and encourages the study of astronomy and the solar system.

Four years post-Kenneth’s birth him and his family relocated to the estate that was located at Kilshrewly. After the move, he still frequently visited the observatory which his uncle William had built which was at Daramona house. It had ‘Grubb 12-inch’ and ’24-inch reflectors’ which he had required from Sir Howard Grubb of Dublin a year after he went on an expedition to Algeria to observe the 1870 total eclipse, at just age 19. At the observatory, he met with friends of his uncles, George Minchin and George Fitzgerald. Observations that were examined involved observation of the ‘1882 transit of Venus' which was the absorption of heat in the solar atmosphere, the measurement of the temperature of the sun and the determination of the thermal radiation of sunspots’. The observatory was fundamental in the story of photoelectric photometry as it was here that, in April 1895 and January 1896, Professor Minchin’s photoelectric cell was first used to measure starlight by Wilson and Professor Fitzgerald. That they formed comprised of pioneering photometric measurements of starlight. Later on, in Edgeworth’s life he devoted his biography to them.

References:

1. "BAA Journal: Kenneth Essex Edgeworth � A biographical note". www.britastro.org. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
2. "Edgeworthstown :: Home". www.edgeworthstown.net. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
3. "An Aldershot Connection With Astronomer Kenneth E Edgeworth | Farnham Astronomical Society". www.farnham-as.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
4. McFarland, John (1996-01). "Kenneth Essex Edgeworth—Victorian polymath and founder of the Kuiper belt?". Vistas in Astronomy. 40 (2): 343–354.
5. "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
6. "The Royal Astronomical Society". ras.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-21.