Carrington, Schwabe, and the Gold Medal

The mid‐nineteenth‐century sunspot studies of Heinrich Schwabe and Richard Carrington helped revitalize the then‐lagging subject of solar astronomy, ushered in the new field of solar‐terrestrial relations, and pointed astronomers toward a more modern view of the Sun's interior. This article recounts a little‐known connection between these two astronomers. Both Schwabe (Figure 1) and Carrington and were wealthy amateurs who pursued precise observational goals to great effect. While Schwabe's monumental result, the discovery of the 11‐year sunspot cycle, required 18 years of labor before its announcement and another seven before its acceptance, Carrington's key discoveries were all made within the first six years of his sunspot observations. Schwabe's solar observing career spanned 43 years (1825–1867); Carrington's spanned less than a fifth of that (1853–1861).