Arthur Matthew Weld Downing (1850-1917),British astronomer. Downing was born in Carlow,Ireland,and studied at Trinity College,Dublin. From 1873,he worked as an assistant at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. From 1891 to 1910,he was superintendent of the British Nautical Almanac Office,responsible for gathering and maintaining astronomical data for use in navigation. Downing was a keen amateur astronomer,and helped found the British Astronomical Association,becoming its second president. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1896 |