Science in the schoolroom
Pritchard was born at Alberbury in Shropshire in 1808 and grew up in London. His education included John Stock’s academy at Poplar, where he learned to use astronomical instruments. Financial difficulties interrupted his schooling, but he continued studying mathematics and published an Introduction to Arithmetic while still a teenager. With help from friends he entered St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1826, graduating in 1830 with high mathematical honours.
A brief headmastership at Stockwell ended after disagreements over the running of the school. Supporters then founded Clapham Grammar School to give him greater freedom. From 1834 to 1862 he developed a curriculum that included experimental science and astronomy alongside more conventional studies. His school had an observatory, and its pupils included sons of prominent scientific families. The combination of practical observation and broad education remained characteristic of his later work.
Ordained in the Church of England, Pritchard also preached and wrote about the relationship between science and Christianity. After leaving Clapham he lived at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight and became increasingly active in the Royal Astronomical Society, serving as its president from 1866 to 1868. His Hulsean lectures at Cambridge in 1867 were part of a continuing attempt to present scientific inquiry and religious belief as compatible.
Measuring the stars at Oxford
Pritchard became Oxford’s Savilian Professor of Astronomy in 1870, already in his sixties. He helped secure a new observatory in the University Parks, equipped for teaching and research. His work turned increasingly towards stellar brightness and the possibilities of photography. A wedge photometer allowed him to compare stars by observing how much darkened glass was needed to extinguish their light. The resulting Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis appeared in 1885.
