Page "George Biddell Airy" Paragraph 14
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In June 1846, Airy started corresponding with French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier over the latter's prediction that irregularities in the motion of Uranus were due to a so-far unobserved body.
Aware that Cambridge Astronomer John Couch Adams had suggested that he had made similar predictions, on 9 July Airy entreated James Challis to undertake a systematic search in the hope of securing the triumph of discovery for Britain.
Ultimately, a rival search in Berlin by Johann Gottfried Galle, instigated by Le Verrier, won the race for priority.
Though Airy was " abused most savagely both by English and French " for his failure to act on Adams's suggestions more promptly, there have also been claims that Adams's communications had been vague and dilatory and further that the search for a new planet was not the responsibility of the Astronomer Royal.
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