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	John Couch Adams
	John Couch Adams turned down a knighthood. The honor was offered by Queen Victoria. She wanted to recognize Adams for his accomplishments.

John Couch Adams was born in England in 1819. He was born to a farming family. When Adams was very young he showed a talent for doing math. He could do very difficult math problems in his head.

Adams went to St. Johns College in Cambridge to study math. While a student there he used math to predict the presence of a new planet beyond Uranus. A few months after Adams made his prediction, a French astronomer also made the same prediction. The French astronomer was named Urbain Le Verrier. He wanted all of the credit for the discovery of the new planet which became known as Neptune. Most scientists now consider Adams and Le Verrier to be the co-discoverers of Neptune. Another contribution that Adams made to the world of astronomy involved the Leonid meteor shower. Adams studied the Leonid meteor shower as it occurred in 1866. He discovered it was due to a comet that comes very close to Earth once a year. Adams also studied the motion of the Moon.

Adams taught math at Cambridge University. He also became the director of the Cambridge Observatory. John Couch Adams was married. He liked to study history, biology, literature, and geology. Adams died in 1892.

A Question What planet did John Couch Adams discover by doing math problems?