General Sir Edward Sabine KCB FRS (14 October 1788 – 26 June 1883) was an Anglo-Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer and the 30th President of the Royal Society.
Two branches of Sabine's work are notable: Determination of the length of the seconds pendulum, a simple pendulum whose time period on the surface of the Earth is two seconds, that is, one second in each direction; and his research on the Earth's magnetic field. He led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in various parts of British territory all over the globe, and much of his life was devoted to their direction, and to analyzing their observations.
While most of his research bears on the subjects just mentioned, other research deals with the birds of Greenland (Sabine's Gull is named for him), ocean temperatures, the Gulf Stream, barometric measurement of heights, arc of the meridian, glacial transport of rocks, the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands, and various points of meteorology.
Read more about Edward Sabine: Early Life, Leave of Absence, Scientific Adviser To The Admiralty, The Magnetic Crusade, Later Life
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