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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Chinthamani Ragoonatha Chary
| image = Ragoonathachary.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1822 or 1828
| birth_place = [[Madras]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 5 February 1880
| death_place = Madras, British India
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for = discovery of variable star ''[[R Reticuli]]''
| education =
| employer = [[Madras Observatory]]
| occupation = astronomer
| title =
| height =
| weight =
| religion =
| spouse =
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| signature =
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| footnotes =
}}
'''Chinthamani Ragoonatha Chary''' (1822 or "17 March" 1828 – 5 February 1880) was an Indian [[astronomer]] who worked at the [[Madras Observatory]] along with [[N.R. Pogson]]. He was the first Indian Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and is known for his studies of [[variable star]]s and the discovery of ''[[R Reticuli]]'' in 1867.

== Early life ==

Little is known about Chary's personal life. It is believed that he was born in [[Madras]] in about 1822.<ref name="cornelluniv">{{cite journal | first1=N. Kameswara | last1=Rao | first2=A. | last2=Vagiswari | first3=Priya | last3=Thakur | first4=Christina | last4=Birdie | title=C. Ragoonatha Chary and his variable stars | date=2009 | journal=[[Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage]] | volume=12| issue=3| pages=201–210 | url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2009JAHH...12..201R | bibcode = 2009JAHH...12..201R | accessdate = 25 February 2016 |arxiv=0908.3081}}</ref> However, in official records, his birthdate has been recorded as 1828 and given in some sources as 17 March.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> Chary's ancestors were Hindu astronomers who prepared Hindu astrological almanacs called ''[[Panchangam]]''s.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> He lived in [[Nungambakkam]] and joined the [[Madras Observatory]] in 1840 as a "[[coolie]]" under [[Thomas Glanville Taylor]].<ref name="cornelluniv" />

== Career ==
By 1864, Chary had gathered enough knowledge of [[mathematics]] to be appointed as [[astronomer]] at the observatory.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> He forged a productive partnership with [[N. R. Pogson]], director of the Madras observatory.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> His main responsibility at the observatory was to observe stars and determine their positions for the Madras Catalogues.<ref name="cornelluniv" /><ref name="obit_mnras">{{cite journal
| title = Chintamanny Ragoonatha Chary
| journal = [[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
| volume = 41
| number = 4
| pages = 180–183
| publisher = [[Royal Astronomical Society]]
| date = 1881
| bibcode = 1881MNRAS..41..180.
| url = http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1881MNRAS..41..180.
| accessdate = 25 February 2016
| doi=10.1093/mnras/41.4.180
| doi-access = free
}}</ref>

During the [[solar eclipse]] of 18 August 1868, Chary was given the task of conducting observations from a village called [[Wanaparthy]] situated to the north of [[Kurnool]], in the district of Mehaboobnagar.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> He was also a part of the team which observed the eclipse of 12 December 1871 at [[Avanashi]].<ref name="cornelluniv" /> In 1874, Chary wrote a [[treatise]] on the transit of [[Venus]] which was published in several local languages.<ref name="currentscience">{{cite journal|title=Chintamani Ragoonathachari and contemporary Indian astronomy|first=B. S.|last=Shylaja|journal=Current Science|volume=96|issue=9|date=10 May 2009|pages=1271–1273|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/may102009/1271.pdf}}</ref>

== Discoveries ==
[[File:Transit_of_Venus_Urdu_1874.jpg|thumb|Urdu translation on the transit of Venus (1874)]]
Chary discovered the [[variable star]] ''[[R Reticuli]]'' in 1867.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> He was the first Indian in modern history to make a significant astronomical discovery. Chary noted that the star which was observed by astronomer T. Moottooswamy Pillai with a [[Meridian Circle]] on 9 February 1864 was not visible when observed in January 1866 but could be spotted on 18 January 1867.<ref name="cornelluniv" />

Some sources also attribute the discovery of another variable star ''V Cephei'' or ''U Cephei'' to him but same has not been confirmed by the Madras Observatory.<ref name="cornelluniv" />

== Death ==

Chary fell ill and died on 5 February 1880.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> In an obituary to Chary, ''[[The Madras Mail]]'' wrote

{{quote|His... ready skill as an observer, combined with accuracy and speed in computation, and a fair and useful amount of self-acquired mathematical knowledge, rendered him, until disabled by impaired health, invaluable in the Observatory, and the chief share in the catalogue of stars in hand, with the Transit Circle, since 1862, comprising already of over 38,000 separate observations, is due to his personal exertions.<ref name="obit_mnras"/>}}

== Family ==

One of Chary's sons Chinthamani Raghava Chary was also an astronomer and helped Chary in preparing a ''Drigganita Panchang'' for the year 1880.<ref name="cornelluniv" /> One of Chary's relatives P. Raghavachari served as third assistant at the Madras Observatory in 1877.<ref name="cornelluniv" />

== Honours ==

Chary was elected [[fellow]] of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] on 12 January 1872 - the first Indian to be elected to the society.<ref name="cornelluniv" />

== Publications ==

Chary had three papers published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (all before his election to the Society)

Volume 19 (1859), p.337, On the Determination of Personal Equation by Observations of the Projected Image of the Sun. (letter to [[William Stephen Jacob|W S Jacob]] (Madras Observatory Director, 1848-1859))<ref>{{Cite web |title=1859MNRAS..19..337C Page 337 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1859MNRAS..19..337C |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=articles.adsabs.harvard.edu}}</ref>

Volume 28 (1867), p.193, Occultations visible in the Month of August, 1868, at Madras, and along the Shadow Path of the Total Eclipse of the Sun in India. (communicated by N R Pogson)<ref>{{Cite web |title=1868MNRAS..28..193C Page 193 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1868MNRAS..28..193C |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=articles.adsabs.harvard.edu}}</ref>

Volume 31 (1871), p.137, On the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on December the 11th, 1871, as visible in the Madras Presideency. (communicated by N R Pogson)<ref>{{Cite web |title=1871MNRAS..31..137R Page 137 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1871MNRAS..31..137R |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=articles.adsabs.harvard.edu}}</ref>

In 1874, Chary wrote a book on the transit of [[Venus]] in English and six Indian languages, Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu in the form of a ''vivada'' or dialogue between two individuals.<ref name="cornelluniv" />

==See also==
*[[Drigganita]]

== Notes ==

{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* {{cite journal|title=Madras Meridian Circle Observations of Fixed Stars during 1862 to 1887|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science|first=S. N.|last=Sen|volume=24|issue=4|pages=257–283|year=1989|url=http://202.41.82.144/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b60_257.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402120800/http://202.41.82.144/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b60_257.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-04-02}}
* {{cite web|last=Venkateswaran T. V.|title=Chinthamani Ragoonathachary and Secularisation of Time During the Late Nineteenth Century Madras Presidency|url=http://web.gnowledge.org/episteme3/pro_pdfs/04-tvv.pdf|work=Proceeding No 521 of March 26, 1878, Fr St George.|accessdate=30 May 2013}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Chary, Chintamanny Ragoonatha|first=Agnes Mary |last=Clerke|volume=10}}

== See also ==
* [[Indian astronomy]]
* [[Visvanatha Sastriyar]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chary, Chinthamani Ragoonatha}}

[[Category:19th-century Indian astronomers]]
[[Category:1820s births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Chennai]]

Chinthamani Ragoonatha Chary - Revision history

45.248.65.243 at 06:19, 3 June 2026