Thomas Romney Robinson

Who was Thomas Romney Robinson?

John Thomas Romney Robinson, usually referred to as Thomas Romney Robinson, was a 19th-century astronomer and physicist. He was the longtime director of the Armagh Astronomical Observatory, one of the chief astronomical observatories in the UK of its time.

Robinson was born in Dublin, the son of English portrait painter Thomas Robinson. He was educated at Belfast Academy and Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained a fellowship in 1814, at the age of 22. He was for some years a deputy professor of natural philosophy at Trinity.

Having been also confirmed as an Anglican priest while at Trinity, he obtained the church livings of the Anglican Church at Enniskillen and at Carrickmacross in the early 1820s.

In 1823, now aged 30, he additionally gained the appointment of astronomer at the Armagh observatory. From then on he always resided at the Armagh observatory, engaged in researches connected with astronomy and physics, until his death in 1882.