53 Facts About Edward Sabine

Sir Edward Sabine was an Irish Physicist, Geodesistastronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, Polar explorer, soldier, and the 30th president of the Royal Society.

Edward Sabine led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in various parts of British territory all over the globe.

Edward Sabine's Father, Joseph Sabine, was a member of a prominent Anglo-Irish family who was visiting his Irish relatives at the time of his son's birth.

Edward Sabine was an English settler who owned land in Killmolin, Wicklow.

Edward Sabine was the couple's fifth son and ninth child.

Edward Sabine's father returned to their home of Tewin in Hertfordshire soon after his birth.

Edward Sabine was educated at Marlow and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Edward Sabine's family had a long history of serving in the military.

For example, His Great Grandfather, Joseph Edward Sabine was in the army of William III in Ireland.

Edward Sabine ranked as major general in the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Edward Sabine followed this tradition at fourteen years old when he attended to Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.

Edward Sabine was named a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in December 1803 and was sent to Gibraltar in 1804.

Edward Sabine became a second captain when he was sent to Quebec and fought the Americans in the Niagara campaign.

Edward Sabine was stationed in Gibraltar during the Peninsular War, but it was in the War of 1812 that he had his first taste of combat.

The ship was captured and after his release Edward Sabine travelled from Halifax to Quebec.

Edward Sabine returned to England and devoted the remainder of his life to the pursuits of astronomy, terrestrial magnetism and physical geography.

Edward Sabine was a renowned scientist known for his work on Earth's magnetism, magnetic instruments, and polar exploration.

Edward Sabine made significant observations, including measurements of tides, currents, and magnetic properties.

In 1819, Edward Sabine returned to the Arctic with William Parry, conducting a magnetic survey on their expedition to Melville Island.

Edward Sabine's work earned him the Copley Medal in 1821, and Parry named a peninsula after him.

In 1821, he embarked on a scientific voyage to the South Atlantic and Caribbean, later conducting studies in Greenland, where Edward Sabine Island was named in his honor.

Edward Sabine received support for his magnetic research from Sir John Barrow, secretary of the Admiralty, and the Royal Society.

From 1830 to 1837, stationed in Ireland, Edward Sabine worked with Professor Humphrey Lloyd on a magnetic survey of Ireland, later extended to Scotland and England.

Edward Sabine served as the secretary of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1829.

In 1839, Edward Sabine played a key role in securing support for an Antarctic expedition led by James Clark Ross aboard HMS Erebus, with Capt.

Edward Sabine was skilled at managing large datasets, employing clerks at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.

Edward Sabine held various leadership roles at the Royal Society, including Foreign Secretary in 1845, Treasurer in 1850, and President from 1861 to 1871.

Edward Sabine was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1818, and it was thanks to the society's recommendations that he was invited to take part that year in Captain John Ross's first Arctic expedition.

Edward Sabine objected when Ross claimed the credit for certain magnetic observations.

Edward Sabine accused Ross of stealing magnetic measurements without giving him due credit and of refusing to allow him enough time on the expedition to take accurate readings.

Edward Sabine generally avoided theoretical discussion in his writings, believing that a true understanding of terrestrial magnetism would only be arrived at after exhaustive observations had been made on a global scale.

Edward Sabine attributed such changes to either a fluctuation in the Earth's magnetic intensity or the shifting positions of the terrestrial magnetic poles.

Edward Sabine next turned his attention to geodesy, which had already engaged his attention during the first of his Arctic voyages and in particular the determination of the length of the seconds pendulum.

Edward Sabine threw himself into the task with his usual diligence.

Edward Sabine returned to the Arctic, journeying up the eastern coast of Greenland with Captain Douglas Clavering on Parry's old ship the Griper.

Edward Sabine Island was named in his honour during this expedition.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Edward Sabine conducted further pendulum experiments throughout the 1820s, determining the relative lengths of the second's pendulum in Paris, London, Greenwich and Altona.

Between 1827 and 1829, the Duke of Wellington granted Edward Sabine general leave of absence from the army on the understanding "that he was usefully employed in scientific pursuits".

Edward Sabine acted as one of the secretaries of the Royal Society.

Political agitation in Ireland necessitated an increased military presence in the country and in 1830 Edward Sabine was recalled to military duty.

Edward Sabine remained in his native land for the next seven years, but he did not allow his new military duties to interrupt his scientific endeavours.

Edward Sabine's appointment was violently attacked by Charles Babbage in a pamphlet entitled Reflections on the Decline of Science in England and on Some of its Causes.

Edward Sabine was one of the instigators of this "Magnetic Crusade", urging the government to establish magnetic observatories throughout the empire.

In 1852, Edward Sabine recognized from the Toronto records that magnetic variations could be divided into a regular diurnal cycle and an irregular portion.

Edward Sabine was the first to recognize that solar disturbances affected the Earth's magnetic environment.

Edward Sabine concluded that the Moon must have a significant magnetic field of its own to cause such an effect.

Edward Sabine was a fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Astronomical Society and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Edward Sabine became a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1869.

Edward Sabine had been a member of the American Philosophical Society since 1841.

Edward Sabine was an accomplished woman in her own right, she had assisted her husband in his scientific endeavours for more than half a century.

Edward Sabine was responsible for the English translation of Ferdinand von Wrangel's Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, working from a German translation by Georg von Engelhardt.

Edward Sabine authored numerous books, wrote hundreds of scientific papers, and contributed articles and literature reviews on topics related to terrestrial physics.

Sir Edward Sabine died aged 94 in his home in Richmond, Surrey on 26 June 1883, and was buried in the family vault at Tewin, Hertfordshire.