John Goodricke

John Goodricke was born on September 17, 1764. He was born in Groningen, the Netherlands. He had a high fever (MP4) when he was a baby. This caused him to be deaf. Mr. Goodricke went to a school for the deaf called Braidwood Academy when he was a boy. He then went to the Warrington Academy. He was very good at math and science in school.

As a young man Mr. Goodricke was very interested in studying stars. His neighbor Mr. Pigott was also interested (MP4) in stars. They decided to work together and were good friends.

One week Mr. Goodricke was studying a star named Algol. He watched the star each night. He noticed that the star's brightness (MP4) changed during the week. He thought Algol was a variable star (MP4). He told Mr. Pigott. They were both very excited. After they studied the star more, they decided that they should tell the Astronomer Royal. He also discovered that Algol was a binary star. See a binary star animation.