Search Results for observatory

Biographies

1. Cassini Dominique biography
   
   • His mother, Charlotte Drouin de Vandeuil, married Cesar-Francois Cassini in 1747 and they lived in the Paris Observatory where Jacques Cassini was effectively the director, although this official position was only created somewhat later.
     
   • Dominique was born in the Observatory and was the eldest of his parents two children.
     
   • Dominique received his early education in the Paris Observatory, then he attended the College du Plessis in Paris and the College Oratorien run by the Congregation of the Oratory at Juilly.
     
   • In 1771 Cassini's father, Cassini de Thury, was made Director of the Paris Observatory by the King with the conditions that succession would be preserved for the Cassini family.
     
   • At this stage Cassini knew that he would become Director of the Observatory on the death of his father and so he lived his life with this in mind.
     
   • After the death of his father in 1784, Cassini assumed the role of Director of the Paris Observatory.
     
   • He persuaded King Louis XVI to restore the Observatory and he began a reorganisation of its operation.
     
   • Two days later, around 300 armed men forced their way into the Paris Observatory looking for food, arms and munitions.
     
   • Running the Observatory became increasingly difficult as expectations changed.
     
   • eldest, a mild fifty-year old monk named Nicolas-Antoine Nouet, who also served as the Observatory chaplain, informed Cassini that he wished to marry his personal serving-woman.
     
   • The second student, a young man of astronomical talent named Jean Perny, returned drunk to the Observatory late one night after a meeting of his Revolutionary club and banged on his patron's door with the butt of his sword, shouting, "Cassini the aristocrat must be killed! He had to be subdued and taken to bed.
     
   • The students in the Observatory accused Cassini of publishing their work under his own name without giving them credit.
     
   • The National Assembly changed things at the Observatory by making four posts of Professor, one of which went to Cassini but on half his previous salary, while his students were appointed to the other three professorships.
     
   • His students told him that he had to leave his rooms in the Observatory which he did a few weeks later.
     
   • However, a week later Ruelle, one of the students who had been elevated to professor at the Observatory, was imprisoned for making up his observational data.
     
   • obliged to flee the Observatory, I saw the Academy of Sciences delivered to the government of the sans-culottes.
     

2. Madwar biography
   
   • Following the award of his doctorate, Madwar returned to Egypt where he was appointed as Permanent Observer at the Royal Helwan Observatory.
     
   • He held this post until 1934 where he became the first Egyptian Director of Helwan Observatory.
     
   • Two years later, in 1936, in addition to his directorship of the Observatory, he was appointed as Professor of Astronomy at Cairo University.
     
   • In 1953 he retired from his position at the Royal Helwan Observatory and at the same time became Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Faculty of Science, Cairo University.
     
   • Madwar's achievements in his roles at the university and the observatory are substantial.
     
   • He installed the Transit Telescope at Helwan Observatory for the determination of Astronomical times, he participated on behalf of Helwan Observatory in the Discovery of Pluto in 1930, he established the Astronomy Department in the Faculty of Science at Cairo University in 1936, and he headed the Egyptian mission of the Total Solar Eclipse at Khartoum in 1952:- .
     
   • In the late forties, the ex-king of Egypt, Farouk, visited Helwan observatory.
     
   • He acknowledged the efforts of Professor Madwar and his research work in discovering the Planet Pluto and some galaxies using the 30" reflector of Helwan Observatory.
     
   • The king agreed immediately and Cairo University gave about half a million Egyptian pounds for this project (at that time the Astronomy Department and Helwan Observatory belonged to Cairo University as a single entity, the "Institute of Astronomy").
     
   • Professor Madwar started the site testing and signed the agreement with an English company to build the 74" reflector telescope for the Kottamia Observatory.
     
   • He prepared the feasibility study for establishing Kottamia Observatory and singed the agreement with the Grupp-Parsons Corporation to install the 74 inch telescope.
     

3. Ulugh Beg biography
   
   • In addition to the madrasah, Ulugh Beg built an observatory at Samarkand, the construction of this beginning in 1428.
     
   • The Observatory, which was circular in shape, had three levels.
     
   • The director of the Observatory was Ali-Kudschi, a Muslim astronomer.
     
   • Al-Kashi and other mathematicians and astronomers appointed to the madrasah also worked at Ulugh Beg's Observatory.
     
   • Among the instruments specially constructed for the Observatory was a quadrant so large that part of the ground had to be removed to allow it to fit in the Observatory.
     
   • The achievements of the scientists at the Observatory, working there under Ulugh Beg's direction and in collaboration with him, are discussed in detail in [The Ulugh Beg school of astronomy (Russian) (Tashkent, 1967).',4)">4].
     
   • The catalogue was the results of a combined effort by a number of people working at the Observatory including Ulugh Beg, al-Kashi, and Qadi Zada.
     
   • As well as tables of observations made at the Observatory, the work contained calendar calculations and results in trigonometry.
     
   • Observations made at the Observatory brought to light a number of errors in the computations of Ptolemy which had been accepted without question up to that time.
     
   • Data from his Observatory allowed Ulugh Beg to calculate the length of the year as 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 15 seconds, a fairly accurate value.
     
   • The Samarkand Observatory .
     

4. Tisserand biography
   
   • Tisserand was then appointed as an assistant-astronomer at the Paris Observatory.
     
   • This was an unfortunate time at the Paris Observatory since its Director Le Verrier had become very unpopular following his drive for efficiency and attempts were being made to have him removed.
     
   • In 1870 Delaunay was appointed as Director of the Paris Observatory to replace Le Verrier.
     
   • Tisserand showed remarkable abilities in his work at the Observatory and it was clear that he would soon achieve an elevated position in the world of astronomy.
     
   • In 1873 Tisserand was appointed director of the Toulouse Observatory to succeed Daguin, a post which he held for five years.
     
   • At the Toulouse Observatory Tisserand appointed two young astronomers, Joseph Perrotin and Guillaume Bigourdan, to help him in his observational work.
     
   • In order to keep the Toulouse Observatory operating during this lengthy absence Jules Gruey, a teacher at the Toulouse Faculty of Science was appointed temporary director.
     
   • The experience stood Gruey in good stead for he went on to became the director of the Besancon Observatory.
     
   • After Tisserand returned to France and took over again as director of the Observatory in Toulouse he had a new instrument installed.
     
   • From 1892 until his death he was director of the Paris Observatory.
     
   • When he arrived to take up the post of director work was being undertaken at the Observatory on the Catalogue photographique de la carte du ciel (the Photographic Catalogue of the Map of the Sky).
     

5. Cassini biography
   
   • He offered him a position in the Panzano Observatory which he was constructing at that time.
     
   • From 1648 Cassini observed at the Panzano Observatory with instruments which he had purchased with financial resources from the Marquis Malvasia.
     
   • The construction of the Paris Observatory had just begun and Cassini was offered a generous salary, free accommodation, and a good travel allowance to oversee the project.
     
   • After he became head of the Paris Observatory in 1671, he soon changed his views on returning to Italy and became a French citizen two years later, changing his name to Jean-Dominique Cassini.
     
   • There were two sons from this marriage, the younger one Jacques Cassini being born in 1677 and eventually succeeding to his father's position as head of the Paris Observatory.
     
   • At the Paris Observatory Cassini continued to make revolutionary discoveries, as he had done in Italy, using a telescope he had brought with him.
     
   • From around 1709 Jacques Cassini gradually took over his father's duties as head of the Paris Observatory.
     
   • While many historians, following Delambre, accuse him of having found his best ideas in the writings of his predecessors and of having oriented French astronomy in an authoritarian and retrograde direction, others insist on the importance of his work as observer and organiser of the research at the Observatory.
     
   • Although Cassini's control did restrict the Observatory's studies and although he did fight against most of the new theories, his behaviour does not seem as uniformly tyrannical and baleful as Delambre described it.
     

6. Bessel biography
   
   • In 1806 he accepted the post of assistant at the Lilienthal Observatory, a private observatory near Bremen.
     
   • It was only after some considerable thought that Bessel left the affluence that was guaranteed in his commercial job choosing instead the near poverty of the Observatory post.
     
   • However the Lilienthal Observatory gave him valuable experience observing planets, in particular Saturn, its rings and satellites.
     
   • In 1809, at the age of 26, Bessel was appointed director of Frederick William III of Prussia's new Konigsberg Observatory and professor of astronomy.
     
   • Although the Observatory at Konigsberg was still under construction, Bessel took up his new post on 10 May 1810.
     
   • He continued to work on Bradley's observations while work continued on the observatory from 1810 to 1813.
     
   • The Konigsberg Observatory was completed in 1813 and Bessel began observing there.
     
   • He declined the directorship of the Berlin Observatory, fearing greater administrative and social responsibilities..
     

7. Brahe biography
   
   • His father died in May 1571 and soon after, with the help of his uncle Steen Bille, Tycho began constructing an observatory in Herrevad Abbey.
     
   • The Landgraf Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel had founded an observatory at Kassel about 15 years earlier and Tycho was very impressed by the methods used there.
     
   • The design of his own observatory would be influenced by that at Kassel and Tycho corresponded frequently with the Landgraf; see [Sudhoffs Arch.
     
   • By this time he had made a decision to leave Denmark and to settle in Basel, but King Frederick of Denmark was not going to lose his most eminent scientist easily so he made offers to Tycho to entice him to set up an observatory in Denmark.
     
   • With financial help from the King of Denmark, he went on to set up a purpose-built observatory, on the island of Hven in Copenhagen Sound.
     
   • The observatory, called Uraniborg, was equipped with exceptionally large and accurate instruments (and with an alchemical laboratory in its basement).
     
   • In 1584, with the observatory of Uraniborg now too small to house all his instruments, Tycho built a second one named Stjerneborg adjacent to Uraniborg.
     
   • Tycho closed down his observatory on Hven in 1597 (the last recorded observation is on 15 March that year), and moved to Copenhagen.
     
   • High Altitude Observatory .
     

8. Schwarzschild biography
   
   • Karl's father was friendly with Professor J Epstein, who was professor at the Philanthropin Academy and had his own private observatory.
     
   • After the award of his doctorate, Schwarzschild was appointed as an assistant at the Von Kuffner Observatory in Ottakring which is a suburb of Vienna.
     
   • While at the Observatory he worked on ways to determine the apparent brightness of stars using photographic plates [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 77 (1917), 314-319.',4)">4]:- .
     
   • He left the Von Kuffner Observatory in June 1899 and became a Privatdozent at the University of Munich, having submitted his work on measuring stellar magnitudes as his habilitation thesis Beitrage zur photographischen Photometrie der Gestirne.
     
   • Choosing 367 stars to measure from the Von Kuffner Observatory, he included two variable stars.
     
   • From 1901 until 1909 he was extraordinary professor at Gottingen and also director of the Observatory there.
     
   • He carried out a large survey of stellar magnitudes while at the Gottingen Observatory, publishing Aktinometrie (the first part in 1910, the second in 1912).
     
   • After his marriage, near the end of 1909, Schwarzschild left Gottingen to take up an appointment as director of the Astrophysical Observatory in Potsdam.
     
   • He did receive posthumous honours too, in particular an observatory, founded in 1960 in Tautenburg as an affiliated Institute of the German Academy of Sciences, was named after him.
     

9. Arago biography
   
   • However he finally decided that he would accept the prestigious offer, was nominated formally on 22 February 1805 and then moved into the Paris Observatory which would become his headquarters.
     
   • He also worked at the Paris Observatory for the rest of his career.
     
   • One experiment which he carried out at the Observatory in 1810 concerned light.
     
   • He became Director of the Paris Observatory.
     
   • He was also able to get funding for the latest astronomical instruments for the Observatory and able to gain financial support for the Academy of Sciences.
     
   • Leaders in various field were required to swear allegiance and Arago held two such positions, as Director of the Observatory and as secretary of the Academy of Sciences.
     
   • He remained at the Paris Observatory, which Napoleon II had renamed the Imperial Observatory.
     

10. Bruns biography
    
    • After graduating he was employed as a calculator at the Observatory in Pulkovo, near St Petersburg, Russia.
      
    • This Observatory was founded in 1839 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve who became its first director.
      
    • The 15-inch refracting telescope installed there in 1839 was the largest in the world, and the observatory had quickly acquired an outstanding reputation for the quality of observations made there.
      
    • At the Pulkovo Observatory Bruns met another calculator, Marie Wilhelmine Schleussner who was two years younger than Bruns, and the two married.
      
    • In 1873 Bruns left Pulkovo to take up the position of observer at the Dorpat Observatory (now Tartu, Estonia).
      
    • Peter Carl Ludwig Schwarz had taken over from Thomas Clausen when he retired as director in the year before Bruns arrived at the Observatory.
      
    • On leaving Berlin he took up the chair of astronomy in the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Leipzig, becoming director of the Leipzig Observatory.
      
    • The Observatory, the second at the University of Leipzig, had been built in 1860-1861 at the west edge of the Johannistal.
      

11. Freundlich biography
    
    • Klein suggested to Freundlich that he might wish to apply for a post as an assistant at the Royal Observatory in Berlin and his appointment was confirmed on 1 July 1910.
      
    • He confirmed it in a paper of 1913 but Freundlich had to go against the wishes of the Director of the Berlin Observatory who strongly advised him against publishing such a revolutionary idea.
      
    • The observatory in Berlin moved to a new site at Neubabelsberg and a house was built for Freundlich and his wife close to the new observatory.
      
    • In 1920 the Einstein Institute was created as the Astrophysical Observatory in Potsdam and Freundlich was appointed as observer there in 1921.
      
    • In Istanbul Freundlich helped create a modern observatory.
      
    • Eddington had advised the Principal of the University of St Andrews that Freundlich was an outstanding person to both create the department of astronomy and to organise the construction of an observatory.
      
    • The closing years of Freundlich's life were marred by incidents arising out of the reluctance of his successor, D W N Stibbs, to grant him open access to the St Andrews observatory in order to witness the final stages of the work on the thirty-seven-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
      

12. Foucault biography
    
    • He told Arago of his achievement and Arago asked him to repeat it in the Paris Observatory.
      
    • Every scientist in Paris received an invitation to view the pendulum in the Paris Observatory on 3 February 1851.
      
    • A paper by Foucault on his pendulum was read by Arago to the Academy of Sciences on the same day as the experiment was carried out in the Observatory.
      
    • He greatly supported science in general and Foucault in particular so he arranged the post of Physicist Attached to the Imperial Observatory to be specially created for Foucault.
      
    • The director of the Imperial Observatory, as Napoleon III had renamed the Paris Observatory, was now Le Verrier.
      
    • Soon Foucault was creating superb telescopes for the Observatory with many innovative features.
      
    • He made many scientific discoveries and invented many other machines to assist the astronomers at the Observatory.
      

13. See biography
    
    • Joseph Ficklin, the Professor of Mathematics at the University of Missouri, encouraged See to spend time at the Laws Observatory and he undertook work there during the summer vacations in 1887 and 1888.
      
    • The expected promotion never came and See left Chicago in 1896 to take up an appointment at the Lowell Observatory.
      
    • At Chicago See had poor relations with his colleagues and this was, if anything, somewhat worse at the Lowell Observatory.
      
    • To indicate that See was in fact an outstanding observer let us note that while at the Lowell Observatory he used the 24" telescope to observe the star known as HDS3147 which he claimed was a double star with the angle between the components being 308.3° and the separation being 0.2".
      
    • See was dismissed from his position at the Lowell Observatory in 1898 and, in the following year, appointed to the United States Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.
      
    • Naval Observatory, Mare Island, California.
      

14. Al-Tusi Nasir biography
    
    • So, when al-Tusi presented Hulegu with plans for the construction of a fine Observatory, Hulegu was happy to agree.
      
    • Maragheh was in the Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran, and it was at Maragheh that the Observatory was to be built.
      
    • Construction of the Observatory began in 1259 west of Maragheh, and traces of it can still be seen there today.
      
    • The observatory at Maragheh became operational in 1262.
      
    • Interestingly the Persians were assisted by Chinese astronomers in the construction and operation of the observatory.
      
    • Al-Tusi also designed other instruments for the Observatory which was far more than a centre for astronomy.
      
    • Al-Tusi put his Observatory to good use, making very accurate tables of planetary movements.
      

15. Hamilton biography
    
    • Hamilton's finals examiner, Boyton, persuaded him to apply for the post of Royal Astronomer at Dunsink observatory even although there had already been six applicants, one of whom was George Biddell Airy.
      
    • The professorship carried the honorary title Royal Astronomer of Ireland and the benefit of residing at Dunsink Observatory.
      
    • William also took the opportunity to visit Catherine, as she was living relatively nearby, which she then reciprocated by coming to the observatory.
      
    • In the end he married Helen Maria Bayly who lived just across the fields from the observatory.
      
    • Then at the observatory Helen did not have much of an idea of housekeeping and was so often ill that the household became extremely disorganised.
      
    • In the years to come she spent most of her time away from the observatory as she was looking after her ailing mother or was indisposed herself.
      
    • In 1845, Thomas Disney visited Hamilton at the observatory and brought Catherine with him.
      

16. La Hire biography
    
    • By this time La Hire's work for the Academy was closely linked to the Paris Observatory which, like the Academy, had been founded largely due to Colbert.
      
    • The director was Giovanni Cassini, and the Observatory had published the Connaissance des temps in 1679 which was the world's first nautical almanac.
      
    • La Hire chose to live with his new wife at the Observatory rather than in his house on rue Montmartre.
      
    • Whatever the prestige attached to residence in the Observatory, from a domestic point of view it had many drawbacks.
      
    • In astronomy he installed the first transit instrument in the Paris Observatory.
      
    • He also studied instruments to measure climatic conditions such as temperature, pressure and wind speed, making measurements with such instruments at the Paris Observatory.
      
    • A precise and regular observer, he contributed to the smooth running of the Paris Observatory and to the success of the different geodesic undertakings.
      

17. Adams biography
    
    • In September 1845 Adams gave accurate information on the position of the new planet to James Challis, director of the Cambridge Observatory.
      
    • Action was not taken by the Cambridge Observatory.
      
    • It was Le Verrier's prediction which led to the discovery of Neptune on 23 September 1846 by Galle at the Berlin Observatory.
      
    • He became director of the Cambridge Observatory in 1861 but negotiated rather unusual conditions for his appointment.
      
    • The Observatory was poorly funded and Challis had tried hard to obtain support for it.
      
    • They met again in December when Adams went to Ireland to offer the senior assistant position to Andrew Graham, director of Markree observatory.
      
    • He died in the Cambridge Observatory.
      

18. Subbotin biography
    
    • Although mainly interested in mathematics at this stage, he did begin to find an interest in astronomy when he worked as a calculator for the university observatory.
      
    • The Russian Astrophysical Laboratory in Tashkent had been created out of the Tashkent Observatory and, in 1925, the Tashkent Observatory became independent again with Subbotin as the first Director of the newly re-established Observatory.
      
    • He held a variety of posts such as Chairman of the Department of Celestial Mechanics (1935-44), Head of the Theoretical Section of Pulkovo Observatory (1931-34), and Head of Leningrad University Observatory (1934-39).
      

19. Stieltjes biography
    
    • Two further failures in 1875 and 1876 had his father in despair, but having a friend H G van de Sande-Bakhuyzen as director of Leiden Observatory, Thomas's father was able to put in a good word for his son.
      
    • Stieltjes became assistant at Leiden Observatory in April 1877 but his father, who had done so much to help his son, was not to live long after helping his son to obtain this position for he died in Rotterdam on 23 June 1878.
      
    • It is a great credit to van de Sande-Bakhuyzen, the director of Leiden Observatory, that he responded quickly to Stieltjes' request on 1 January 1883 to stop his observational work to allow him to work more on mathematical topics.
      
    • He completed the move on 1 December 1883 when he resigned his post at the observatory.
      
    • I owe much, for this position, to the extreme kindness of my old boss Mr Bakhuyzen, the director of the observatory.
      
    • The Rector reported that a request has been received from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics to confer the degree of doctor honoris causa in Mathematics and Astronomy upon Mr T J Stieltjes, a former employee of Leiden Observatory.
      

20. Quetelet biography
    
    • In December 1823, he went to Paris to study astronomy at the Observatory there.
      
    • Ernest became an accomplished astronomer, and eventually took over his father's role as Director of the Brussels Observatory.
      
    • For a long time he had been pressing for a Belgium observatory to be set up, but the project progressed rather slowly.
      
    • In 1827, on the direction of the King, Quetelet was given the task of choosing instruments for the observatory.
      
    • In 1832 he became director of the newly opened Observatory.
      
    • From this time on, Quetelet lived at the Observatory where he worked on statistical, geophysical, and meteorological data, studied meteor showers and established methods for the comparison and evaluation of the data.
      

21. Delaunay biography
    
    • Arago suggested to Delaunay that he come to the Paris Observatory and train to become an astronomer but Savary advised against this course of action.
      
    • Le Verrier was the Director of the Paris Observatory and by 1869 he had become very unpopular with his colleagues at the Observatory following his drive for efficiency.
      
    • This was a time of extreme difficulty for Delaunay who succeeded against all the odds to save the Paris Observatory.
      
    • The Commune was suppressed after two months of bitter fighting during which time Delaunay had an equally difficult task keeping the Observatory safe from the riots and fighting in the city.
      
    • He largely succeeded but the Observatory did sustain some damage.
      

22. Gregory biography
    
    • However he had already begun work on an observatory.
      
    • In 1673 the university allowed Gregory to purchase instruments for the observatory, but told him he would have to make applications and organise collections for funds to build the observatory.
      
    • Gregory went home to Aberdeen and took a collection outside the church doors for money to build his observatory.
      
    • I was ashamed to answer, the affairs of the Observatory of St Andrews were in such a bad condition, the reason of which was, a prejudice the masters of the University did take at the mathematics, because some of their scholars, finding their courses and dictats opposed by what they had studied in the mathematics, did mock at their masters, and deride some of them publicly.
      
    • Gregory's Observatory .
      

23. Cassini de Thury biography
    
    • He was brought up at the Paris Observatory, however, where his father had taken over as head around the time of his birth.
      
    • It was in the Observatory that he received his education which was directed by his great uncle Jacques-Philippe Maraldi.
      
    • They had two children: a son, Jean-Dominique Cassini born in 1748, who succeeded his father as Director of the Paris Observatory (and is sometimes known as Cassini IV), and a daughter, Francoise-Elisabeth.
      
    • Despite many observations made by Cassini in his role as head of the Paris Observatory, his work in astronomy is of relatively little importance.
      
    • In 1771 the King made Cassini Director of the Observatory, creating the position of Director for the first time.
      
    • While he was a good geodesist and a talented cartographer, Cassini III was only a second-rate astronomer; and the name of this third representative of the Cassini dynasty at the Paris Observatory will remain associated with the first map of France produced according to modern principles.
      

24. Delambre biography
    
    • By this time Delambre had his own observatory.
      
    • In 1787 Geoffroy d'Assy moved into a new house in the le Marais district of Paris, west of the Bastille, and in 1788, encouraged by Lalande, he began building an observatory for Delambre above his bedroom on the top floor of the house.
      
    • The observatory, fitted with the latest equipment, was completed by 1789.
      
    • Delambre worked in his observatory and in 1792 he published Tables du Soleil, de Jupiter, de Saturne, d'Uranus et des satellites de Jupiter .
      
    • They lived at first in the d'Assy house in the le Marais district of Paris where, except for when he had been on his travels, he had continued to observe in the observatory above his room from the time it was first built for him.
      

25. Kirch biography
    
    • He accepted and the Kirch family moved to Berlin in May 1700 where a new observatory began to be built for them.
      
    • Building the observatory, which was officially founded on 11 July 1700 (the King's birthday), would take eleven years and there was no way that they could stop doing astronomy while waiting for the new building.
      
    • They therefore made observations from their Berlin home, but then were given the opportunity of using Baron von Krosigk's observatory.
      
    • She went to work in Krosigk's well-equipped observatory in 1712, and upon [Krosigk's] death in 1714 moved to Danzig.
      
    • Peter the Great wanted her to come to Russia, but when her son Christfried became the astronomer of the Berlin Observatory, she joined him there.
      

26. Ritt biography
    
    • In 1910 he was appointed to the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.
      
    • The Observatory measured the position of celestial objects for purposes of timekeeping and navigation and in 1904, six years before Ritt took a job there, the Observatory broadcast the world's first radio time signals.
      
    • Ritt did manage to continue his education as well as working at the Observatory.
      
    • Ritt resigned his position at the Naval Observatory and began working for his doctorate which was awarded in 1917 for his thesis On a general class of linear homogeneous differential equations of infinite order with constant coefficients.
      

27. Boscovich biography
    
    • He became professor of mathematics at Pavia in 1764 and was director of Brera Observatory.
      
    • He did much work on improved optical devices for the Observatory and made important advances on achromatic lenses.
      
    • In the period between 1769 and 1771, he intensified his research activities in the fields of astronomy and optics at the Brera Observatory, which he himself had designed.
      
    • Towards the end of 1771, the Vienna government, while carrying out its general reorganization of university studies in Pavia and Milan, advanced certain observations regarding the operation of the Brera Observatory.
      
    • He was out of favour with his colleagues and in 1772 he was removed from his post as director of Brera Observatory.
      

28. Halley biography
    
    • The most likely explanation is that with the opening of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1675, Flamsteed undertook the task of mapping the northern hemisphere stars and Halley decided to complement this programme with undertaking a similar task for the southern hemisphere.
      
    • Other important men also supported the venture, including Brouncker who was president of the Royal Society and Jonas Moore who had been a major influence in the founding of the Royal Observatory.
      
    • Flamsteed was not well disposed towards Newton particularly since he felt that Newton had not given sufficient credit to observations made by the Royal Observatory in his theory of the moon.
      
    • Flamsteed's widow was so angry that she had all her husband's instruments from the Royal Observatory sold so that Halley would not have the use of them.
      
    • At the Greenwich Royal Observatory Halley used the first transit instrument and devised a method for determining longitude at sea by means of lunar observations.
      

29. Cotes biography
    
    • Cotes was the first occupant of the Cambridge chair established by Thomas Plume (1630 - 1704), archdeacon of Rochester, who bequeathed nearly £2000 to maintain a professor and erect an astronomical observatory.
      
    • Plans for an observatory at Trinity had already been drafted by Bentley before Plume's bequest.
      
    • The observatory was eventually housed over the king's or great gate at Trinity College, together with living quarters for the Plumian professor.
      
    • In the first place there are somewhat contradictory accounts of the quality of the instruments in the Cambridge observatory.
      
    • Bentley, the master of Trinity College we mentioned above, claimed that the Observatory had "the best instruments in Europe" but an assistant who worked there wrote to Flamsteed saying "I saw nothing there that might deserve your notice".
      

30. Cassini Jacques biography
    
    • Jean-Dominique Cassini was head of the Paris Observatory at the time of his marriage to Genevieve in 1674 and, two years previously, had become a French citizen, changing his name from Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
      
    • Jacques, the second of his parents two sons, was born at their home at the Observatory in Paris.
      
    • The Paris Observatory where his family lived provided an excellent place to educate a young boy with enthusiastic interests in science.
      
    • His scientific role was one of major importance, playing a major role in the Academie des Sciences and taking over as head of the Paris Observatory from his father.
      
    • It is worth noting that at this time there was no official post of Director of the Observatory, which was in theory run by the Academie des Sciences, but Cassini like his father before him effectively ran it.
      

31. Sundman biography
    
    • After graduating Sundman went to Pulkovo Observatory to continue his research on astronomy.
      
    • The Observatory, 19 km south of St Petersburg on the Pulkovo Heights, was founded in 1839.
      
    • He spent two years at Pulkovo Observatory before being awarded a scholarship which allowed him to continue his studies at various universities in Germany and France.
      
    • In 1918 he was named as Professor of Astronomy at Helsinki and also director of the Observatory.
      
    • He occupied both the chair of astronomy and the directorship of the Observatory until he retired in 1941.
      

32. Al-Quhi biography
    
    • Sharaf ad-Dawlah required al-Quhi to make observations of the seven planets and in order to do this al-Quhi had an observatory built in the garden of the palace in Baghdad.
      
    • The instruments in the observatory were built to al-Quhi's own design and installed once the building was complete.
      
    • Al-Quhi was made director of the observatory and it was officially opened in June 988.
      
    • Some accurate observations were made but the observatory ceased work in 989 on the death of Sharaf ad-Dawlah.
      
    • Fine cultural activities such as an observatory took a lower priority.
      

33. Airy biography
    
    • Airy was appointed Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Observatory.
      
    • There he undertook a reorganisation of the Royal Observatory which was positive in many ways but also had some unfortunate side effects.
      
    • Since he could not tolerate his staff thinking for themselves no young scientists were trained at the Observatory during his period as Astronomer Royal.
      
    • However, his considerable engineering ability was put to good use in renovating the instruments at the observatory.
      
    • In later life he was sarcastic and enforced a rigid discipline on his staff at the Royal Observatory.
      

34. Bouvard biography
    
    • He became fascinated by astronomy after a visit to the Paris Observatory.
      
    • He entered the Observatory as a student astronomer in 1793 and in 1795 was appointed as an astronomer.
      
    • He also had at his disposal two fine series of post-discovery observations, one by the Paris observatory, the other by the Greenwich observatory.
      
    • Bouvard believed this was due to another planet perturbing the orbit of Uranus but, although he asked an astronomer at the Paris Observatory to follow up the idea, nothing came of it since unfortunately for Bouvard the astronomer left soon after he made his request.
      

35. Qadi Zada biography
    
    • Construction of an observatory in Samarkand began in 1424 and, while the observatory was under construction, al-Kashi wrote to his father, who lived in Kashan, about the scientific life in Samarkand.
      
    • The major work undertaken at the Observatory in Samarkand was the production of the Catalogue of the stars, the first comprehensive stellar catalogue since that of Ptolemy.
      
    • The catalogue was a collaborative effort by a number of scientists working at the Observatory but the principal contributors were certainly Ulugh Beg, al-Kashi, and Qadi Zada.
      
    • As well as tables of observations made at the Observatory, the work contained calendar calculations and results in trigonometry.
      

36. Hevelius Johannes biography
    
    • However, his wife Katharina took over much of the administrative work associated with the brewery so that Hevelius could devote much of his time to constructing astronomical instruments, grinding lens for telescopes, making mounts for quadrants, sextants and other essential tools for a well equipped 17th century observatory.
      
    • His determination to devote himself to astronomy meant that, remarkably, he had by now the finest observatory in the world installed at his home in Danzig.
      
    • His home and observatory were destroyed by fire, possibly deliberately started, on the night of 26 September 1679.
      
    • However, Hevelius showed remarkable determination and, by August 1681 he had rebuilt his observatory, although the new instruments were not of the same quality as those which had been destroyed.
      
    • Hevelius's observatory destroyed by fire .
      

37. Picard Jean biography
    
    • In 1671 Picard went to Tycho Brahe's observatory at Hven Island in Sweden so that its location could be determined accurately and so Tycho's observations could be directly compared with others.
      
    • In 1673 Picard moved to the Paris Observatory where he collaborated with Jean Richer, Jean-Dominique Cassini and, slightly later, with La Hire.
      
    • Romer also went to the Paris Observatory following the visit to Hven Island and, with Picard, continued to observe the moons of Jupiter.
      
    • Also at the Paris Observatory, Picard was involved with measuring the parallax of Mars.
      
    • Also at the Paris Observatory, Picard tried to measure the parallax of nearby stars and so verify the fact that the Earth orbits the sun.
      

38. Mobius biography
    
    • Gauss was the director of the Observatory in Gottingen but of course the greatest mathematician of his day, so again Mobius studied under an astronomer whose interests were mathematical.
      
    • From the time of his first appointment at Leipzig Mobius had also held the post of Observer at the Observatory at Leipzig.
      
    • He was involved the rebuilding of the Observatory and, from 1818 until 1821, he supervised the project.
      
    • He visited several other observatories in Germany before making his recommendations for the new Observatory.
      
    • In 1848 he became director of the Observatory.
      

39. Jackson biography
    
    • In 1914 a vacancy arose at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich for a Junior Chief Assistant and the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Dyson appointed Jackson to the post.
      
    • He continued in this role until 1919 when he was able to return to his post at the Observatory at Greenwich.
      
    • In 1933 Jackson was appointed His Majesty's Astronomer at Cape Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa.
      
    • Jackson, who went out to South Africa with his wife Mary Beatrice Marshall, also became Director of Cape Observatory, and he filled this position until he retired in 1950.
      
    • Taking equipment sent out from London, Jackson headed a party from the Cape Observatory to the site chosen for observations.
      

40. Hevelius Koopman biography
    
    • It was a fascination for astronomy which led Elisabetha, when still only a child, to approach Hevelius, an astronomer of international repute who had a complex of three houses in Danzig which contained the best observatory in the world.
      
    • Hevelius's wife died in March 1662 and some time after this Elisabetha, now aged fifteen, again approached Hevelius and reminded him that he promised to show her the heavens from his observatory when she was older - and now she was fifteen.
      
    • Their home and observatory were destroyed by fire, possibly deliberately started, on the night of 26 September 1679.
      
    • Edmond Halley had visited Hevelius and his wife during the summer of 1679, shortly before their home and observatory were destroyed by fire.
      

41. Mathieu Claude biography
    
    • His family were poor and he had practically no money to support himself, but he was able to find a room to live in under Jean Baptiste Delambre's observatory.
      
    • Arago, however, had been appointed as secretary of the Paris Observatory in 1804.
      
    • After Arago and Biot left Paris in 1806 to begin their measurements in Spain, Mathieu was appointed as secretary of the Paris Observatory to replace Arago.
      
    • In the following year he was promoted to assist Delambre who was the director of the Observatory.
      

42. Moore Jonas biography
    
    • Perhaps his most important contribution was in his efforts to set up the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and his efforts to support Flamsteed.
      
    • with the design of installing him in a small observatory of his own in Chelsea College, but procured from the king instead the foundation of the Royal Observatory.
      
    • A recent work by Willmoth [Sir Jonas Moore: Practical Mathematics and Restoration Science (Woodbridge, 1993).',2)">2] goes futher than earlier authors in describing Moore's contribution to the founding of the Royal Observatory claiming, with much supporting evidence, that he was:- .
      

43. Mechain biography
    
    • Others, like that carried out in 1787 to find the precise distance between the Greenwich observatory in England and the Paris observatory, were part of an international project.
      
    • It may have been the promise that he would be made director of the Paris observatory which tempted Mechain back to Paris.
      
    • The more sensitive personal letters and the evidence that Mechain had fiddled the results and lied to his colleagues were sealed in the archives of the Paris observatory.
      

44. Guo Shoujing biography
    
    • Of these seventeen instruments, thirteen were to be set up in an observatory in Kublai's capital Dadu (today called Beijing or Peking) while the other four were portable instruments which could make observations from different locations.
      
    • Kublai Khan established an Astronomical Observatory in Beijing in 1279.
      
    • Zhang Wenqian died in 1283 and Guo was promoted to be director of the Observatory in Beijing.
      
    • In 1292, in addition to his role of director of the Observatory, he was made head of the Water Works Bureau.
      

45. Eddington biography
    
    • Before the end of 1905 Eddington had made the move to astronomy with his appointment to a post at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
      
    • On being appointed to fill a vacancy at the Royal Observatory he was immediately involved with a research project which had been underway since 1900 when photographic plates of Eros had been taken over the period of a year.
      
    • However, the holder of the Lowndean chair died towards the end of 1913 and, in 1914, Eddington became director of the Cambridge Observatory.
      
    • Shortly after his appointment as director of the Cambridge Observatory he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
      

46. Esclangon biography
    
    • Esclangon accepted a post at the university observatory but continued to work on mathematical topics for his doctorate.
      
    • As well as holding the position in the Observatory at Bordeaux, Esclangon taught mathematics in the Faculty of Science there from 1902.
      
    • He became professor of astronomy at Strasbourg in 1919, having been appointed director of the Observatory there in the previous year.
      
    • Then, from 1929 to 1944 he was director of the Observatory at Paris, again holding the position of professor of astronomy from 1930 to 1946.
      

47. Al-Maghribi biography
    
    • His life seems to have been greatly affected by the wars of the period and he seems to have found favour with the winning side eventually working with al-Tusi at the Mongol observatory at Maragha, Iran.
      
    • Al-Tusi and Muhyi l'din were involved in the construction of an Observatory.
      
    • The observatory at Maragha became operational in 1262.
      
    • There is a unique manuscript by Muhyi l'din in which he lists precise observations made at the Maragha Observatory between 1262 and 1274.
      

48. Playfair biography
    
    • To express their gratitude, class members presented Playfair with a precious astronomical circle, which was placed in the Observatory of the Astronomical Institution.
      
    • The New Observatory on Calton Hill was built largely through Playfair's efforts in support of the project.
      
    • He moved to Burntisland in Fife in 1818 after seeing work begin on the New Observatory for the Astronomical Institution of Edinburgh, in order to complete this essay.
      
    • There were over 500 mourners at his burial in the Old Calton Burial Ground, overlooked by the Observatory which he helped to create.
      

49. Chapman biography
    
    • After Chapman graduated from Cambridge in 1910 the astronomer royal, Frank Dyson, offered him the position of senior assistant at Greenwich Observatory.
      
    • He left the Greenwich observatory and returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in 1914, with a reduced salary, around the time that World War I broke out.
      
    • In 1916 he was asked to return to working at the Greenwich observatory in an honorary capacity, which he did until December 1918.
      
    • In particular he took a research post in Alaska in 1953 and in addition took on a similar post at the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, two years later.
      

50. Le Verrier biography
    
    • He worked at the Paris Observatory for most of his life where his drive for efficiency was to made him very unpopular.
      
    • Le Verrier was better served by the German astronomer Galle (who found the planet in one hour) than Adams was by Airy who gave the task to Challis, the director of the Cambridge Observatory.
      
    • In 1854 Le Verrier became director of the Paris Observatory but his unpopularity, mentioned above, led to him being removed from the post in 1870.
      
    • Le Verrier discovered of a discrepancy in the motion in the perihelion of Mercury in 1855, soon after his appointment as director of the Paris Observatory.
      

51. Eudoxus biography
    
    • At this time Eudoxus made astronomical observations from an observatory which was situated between Heliopolis and Cercesura.
      
    • He had built an observatory on Cnidus and we know that from there he observed the star Canopus.
      
    • The observations made at his observatory in Cnidus, as well as those made at the observatory near Heliopolis, formed the basis of two books referred to by Hipparchus.
      

52. Barbier biography
    
    • He was offered a post at the Paris Observatory by Le Verrier and Barbier left Nice to begin work as an assistant astronomer.
      
    • He made many contributions to astronomy while at the observatory but his talents in mathematics were also to the fore and he looked at problems in a wide range of mathematical topics in addition to his astronomy work.
      
    • He left the Paris Observatory in 1865 after only a few years of working there.
      
    • Barbier's early work, while at the Observatory, consists of over twenty memoirs and reports.
      

53. Abu'l-Wafa biography
    
    • Sharaf ad-Dawlah required an observatory to be set up, and it was built in the garden of the palace in Baghdad.
      
    • The observatory was officially opened in June 988 with a number of famous scientists present such as al-Quhi and Abu'l-Wafa.
      
    • The instruments in the observatory included a quadrant over 6 metres long and a stone sextant of 18 metres.
      
    • However, the caliph Sharaf ad-Dawlah died in the following year and the observatory was closed.
      

54. Sampson biography
    
    • He also became Director of the Durham Observatory [Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (2007), 1009-1011.',1)">1]:- .
      
    • Sampson used a series of accurate observations from Harvard College Observatory to amend the existing theory of the satellite orbits, but the disagreement between theory and observation persisted.
      
    • As Director of the Royal Observatory on the Blackford Hill he devoted much attention to the determination and recording of time, especially as regards the behaviour of observatory clocks ..
      

55. Gauss biography
    
    • Olbers requested that Gauss be made director of the proposed new observatory in Gottingen, but no action was taken.
      
    • In 1807 Gauss left Brunswick to take up the position of director of the Gottingen observatory.
      
    • Much of Gauss's time was spent on a new observatory, completed in 1816, but he still found the time to work on other subjects.
      
    • However, once Gauss's new magnetic observatory (completed in 1833 - free of all magnetic metals) had been built, he proceeded to alter many of Humboldt's procedures, not pleasing Humboldt greatly.
      

56. Clerke biography
    
    • Although Clerke was not a practical astronomer, nor an author of original research articles, she did spend three months at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope where she was the guest of the director, Sir David Gill, and his wife.
      
    • At the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope she certainly gained sufficient experience of current research to be able to write with authority on the latest developments.
      
    • Among the others we mention The System of the Stars (1890) which made use of the up-to-date techniques she had learnt about at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good.
      
    • In fact while Clerke was writing this book she was informally offered an appointment at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
      

57. Lalande biography
    
    • While studying for his law degree he lodged at the Hotel de Cluny in Paris and it was there that the astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle had his observatory.
      
    • He also visited England, in particular the Greenwich Observatory, and found out details of Harrison's clocks which had been successful in determining longitude.
      
    • His career went from strength to strength and on 17 May 1795 he was appointed director of the Paris Observatory.
      
    • She was the chief investigator on Lalande's large-scale study of lunar astronomy, which was undertaken at the Paris Observatory, and she became the first woman in Paris to teach astronomy.
      

58. Herschel biography
    
    • John was brought up in Observatory House, with its 40 foot telescope, where music, science and religion were dominant.
      
    • Caroline Herschel had left her brother's home when he married, but she continued to come to Observatory House every day to help William reduce his data and she proved an outstanding teacher to John, carrying out experiments in physics and chemistry with the young boy.
      
    • The Royal Observatory had been completed at the Cape of Good Hope in 1828 with the scientific aim to catalogue interesting astronomical objects which could not be observed from the northern hemisphere.
      

59. Niven Charles biography
    
    • Niven's work with the Aberdeen Observatory is mentioned in a report in The Scotsman on Saturday, 21 September 1912:- .
      
    • ABERDEEN OBSERVATORY .
      
    • By arrangement with Professor Niven, a pair of the odolites have been lent to the Observatory for the observation of pilot balloons.
      

60. Friedmann biography
    
    • In February 1913 he was appointed to a position in the Aerological Observatory in Pavlovsk, a suburb of St Petersburg, where he was to study meteorology.
      
    • World War I broke out on 1 August 1914 and Friedmann soon sought permission from the Head of the Observatory to join the volunteer aviation detachment.
      
    • In the spring of 1920, with the Civil war still raging, Friedmann returned to St Petersburg (now named Petrograd) to take up a post at the Main Geophysical Observatory.
      

61. Auzout biography
    
    • He wrote to King Louis XIV in 1664 indicating that there was a need for a public observatory, and that the Compagnie des Sciences et des Arts was ready to begin work on the project if it received Royal sponsorship.
      
    • This is of interest since the Observatory was established in 1667 as a result of the petition, and also since it suggests that Auzout was leading a group from Mersenne's circle who were seeking a formal status.
      
    • The sixteen types of astronomical observations proposed constitute a comprehensive observational programme, adequate for a permanent observatory, and for the most part significant.
      

62. Ball Robert biography
    
    • The Royal Astronomer was based at Dunsink Observatory, 8 km north of Dublin, where Ball had met Hamilton when he (Ball) was a young man.
      
    • In 1892 John Couch Adams, the Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge and the director of the Cambridge Observatory, died.
      
    • Ball applied for the vacant position and was appointed as Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry but disputes with the university meant that he had to wait a year before he was appointed director of the Cambridge Observatory.
      

63. Clausen biography
    
    • Clausen became an assistant at Altona Observatory in 1824.
      
    • In 1842 he was appointed to the observatory in Dorpat, two years later receiving a doctorate for work carried out under Bessel's supervision.
      
    • In 1866 he was appointed director of the Dorpat Observatory, a post he held until he retired in 1872.
      

64. Wolf biography
    
    • Wolf became director of the Bern Observatory in 1847.
      
    • An observatory was opened at Zurich in 1864, largely due to Wolf's efforts, and he was appointed as director.
      
    • High Altitude Observatory .
      

65. Routh biography
    
    • In 1857 the post of first assistant at the Royal Greenwich Observatory became vacant and Routh was invited by Airy, the Astronomer Royal, to visit the Observatory so that he might be offered the post.
      
    • He did go to the Observatory but decided that he would prefer not to accept the post there, but rather remain at Cambridge.
      

66. Wittich biography
    
    • Certainly Dudith did not succeed in persuading Wittich to give up his enthusiasm for travelling for in the summer of 1580, taking with him a letter of introduction from Thaddaeus Hagecius, he went to visit Tycho on the island of Hveen (called today Hven or Ven) in Copenhagen Sound where Tycho had his observatory Uraniborg.
      
    • In 1580, however, he was exposed to the rich commentaries of Copernicus that Wittich had brought with him during a four-month visit at the isle of Hven, the site of Tycho's observatory.
      
    • By 1584 Wittich was in Kassel working with Burgi helping improve the design of the instruments he was making for the Observatory of Wihelm of Hesse in Kassel.
      

67. Savary biography
    
    • We look at this episode in a little more detail following [The Observatory 118 (October 1998), 273- 275.',3)">3].
      
    • The relative positions of the two stars were first accurately measured in 1826 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, who was at that time director of Russia's Dorpat Observatory.
      
    • William Herschel's son, John Herschel [The Observatory 118 (October 1998), 273- 275.',3)">3]:- .
      

68. Herschel Caroline biography
    
    • In April 1786 William and Caroline moved to a new home they called Observatory House which was in Slough and there, on 1 August 1786, Caroline discovered her first comet which was described by some as the "first lady's comet".
      
    • She continued to support her brother's work and in making the daily walk to Observatory House, became a well-known figure.
      
    • She was the guest of Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory in 1799 and a guest of members of the Royal Family at various times in 1816, 1817 and 1818.
      

69. Chree biography
    
    • In 1893 he was appointed as Superintendent of the Kew Observatory and began a new phase in his research career working there mainly on terrestrial magnetism.
      
    • After having gained distinction as an authority on the mathematical theory of elasticity, Charles Chree's interests were turned to the study of geomagnetism by his appointment, at the age of 33, as Superintendent of the Kew Observatory.
      
    • He did outstanding service, in addition to maintaining the regular activities of his observatory at a high level, in discussing the data obtained there and on four Antarctic expeditions.
      

70. Newcomb biography
    
    • In 1861 Newcomb was appointed as professor of mathematics and astronomer at the Naval Observatory at Washington to fill a vacancy created by one of these resignations.
      
    • The Observatory was caught in the midst of the fighting but, fortunately for Newcomb, he had been able to leave the city three weeks earlier in the midst of the mounting crisis.
      
    • By now he had a very high reputation as an astronomer and, as a consequence, he was offered the post of Director of the Harvard College Observatory in 1875.
      

71. Spitzer biography
    
    • He also became the director of Princeton's Observatory.
      
    • The proposal that the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SITF) be named the Spitzer Deep Space Observatory was made by Jay Stidolph who wrote:- .
      
    • My suggestion for the renaming of SITF is the Spitzer Deep Space Observatory, named for Dr Lyman Spitzer.
      

72. Copernicus biography
    
    • He now had more time than before to devote to his study of astronomy, having an observatory in the rooms in which he lived in one of the towers in the town's fortifications.
      
    • You can see a picture of Copernicus's observatory in Frauenburg.
      
    • Always keen to make observations, Copernicus returned to his home/observatory in Frauenburg whenever there was a reason to attend a meeting or consult with the other canons, always taking the opportunity to further his researches.
      

73. Flamsteed biography
    
    • In February 1675 Flamsteed arrived in London to stay with Moore and Moore arranged that Flamsteed visit the King, Charles II, to ask for a Royal Observatory.
      
    • The Royal Observatory at Greenwich was built and equipped for his observations and he began observing there in 1676.
      
    • Flamsteed was a skilled observer and had a number of observing programmes at the Royal Observatory to answer major questions.
      

74. Regiomontanus biography
    
    • By 29 November he had been granted leave to reside in Nuremberg where he built an observatory and a workshop to construct instruments.
      
    • Bernhard Walther, his wealthy pupil who had funded his instrument shop, observatory and printing works, began observations from Regiomontanus's observatory in Nuremberg on 2 August.
      

75. Cantelli biography
    
    • While he was still a student, in 1897, he began working at the nearby Observatory and also, from 1899 to 1903, he taught mathematics in secondary schools.
      
    • Palermo Observatory, where Cantelli worked, had been quite famous.
      
    • In his initial research, at the Observatory in Palermo, he tried to verify if the position of the stars mentioned by Dante in the 'Divina Commedia' corresponded either to the year 1300 or to the year 1301.
      

76. McCrea biography
    
    • McCrea's later books are Physics of Sun and Stars (1950), Cosmology (1969), The Royal Greenwich Observatory (1975), and History of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1920 to 1980 (1987).
      
    • Bill was central to maintaining active links between the Astronomy Centre and the Royal Greenwich Observatory, then located at Herstmonceux.
      
    • In the 1980s, Bill was energetic in trying to retain the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux.
      

77. Khayyam biography
    
    • An invitation was sent to Khayyam from Malik-Shah and from his vizier Nizam al-Mulk asking Khayyam to go to Esfahan to set up an Observatory there.
      
    • Other leading astronomers were also brought to the Observatory in Esfahan and for 18 years Khayyam led the scientists and produced work of outstanding quality.
      
    • Funding to run the Observatory ceased and Khayyam's calendar reform was put on hold.
      

78. Xu Yue biography
    
    • Liu Hong worked at the Imperial Observatory and it was there that Xu Yue held discussions with him and also with the head of the Astronomical Bureau.
      
    • Mathematics was used by Liu Hong and others at the Observatory in their studies of astronomy and the related work on the calendar which, of course, was based on the apparent motion of the sun and the moon.
      

79. Sitter biography
    
    • In the Laboratory Jacobus Kapteyn, the Professor of Astronomy and Theoretical Mechanics, was measuring photographic plates which had been taken by the astronomer David Gill as part of a photographic survey of the southern sky taken at the Cape Town Observatory.
      
    • Although Kapteyn was the Groningen Professor of Astronomy, he had volunteered to assist in the Astronomical Laboratory since he had no observatory in which to conduct his own observations.
      
    • He worked at the Cape Observatory in South Africa for two years taking part in photometric and heliometer programmes.
      
    • Jan Hendrik Oort writes in [The Observatory 58 (1935), 22-27.',13)">13]:- .
      
    • Aernout de Sitter served as director of the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, Dutch East Indies.
      
    • Hendricus Gerardus van de Sande Bakhuyzen had been Professor of Astronomy and Director of the University Observatory at the University of Leiden from his appointment in 1872.
      
    • He retired in 1908 and his duties were split into two, with the chair of astronomy being separated from the directorship of the Observatory.
      
    • De Sitter was appointed to the chair of astronomy while Ernest-Frederich van de Sande Bakhuyzen, H G van de Sande Bakhuyzen's brother, was appointed as Director of the Observatory.
      
    • E F van de Sande Bakhuyzen died in 1918 and in the following year de Sitter was appointed Director of the Leiden Observatory in addition to his professorship.
      
    • Oort writes [The Observatory 58 (1935), 22-27.',13)">13]:- .
      
    • Neither a serious illness from which he suffered during some years, nor the directorship of an observatory which he undertook to reorganise almost entirely, nor his constant activities in many matters connected with the University could slow up the flow of his scientific investigations.
      

80. Wren biography
    
    • In 1675, the year in which Wren's plans for St Paul's were accepted, he received a commission from Charles II to build a Royal Observatory for Flamsteed who had been appointed as Astronomer Royal in that year.
      
    • Of course Charles II was not having an observatory built to push forward scientific research, rather he wanted a solution to the longitude problem which would give England a huge advantage over its competitors as a sea-faring nation.
      

81. Glaisher biography
    
    • James senior worked at the Royal Observatory where he was the Superintendent of the Magnetical and Meteorological Department, and he had married Cecilia, the daughter of Henry Belville who was an assistant at the Observatory for forty years.
      

82. Hopf Eberhard biography
    
    • He arrived Cambridge, Massachusetts in October of 1930 but his official affiliation was not the Harvard Mathematics Department but, instead, the Harvard College Observatory.
      
    • While in the Harvard College Observatory he worked on many mathematical and astronomical subjects including topology and ergodic theory.
      

83. Thiele biography
    
    • In 1875 Thiele was appointed as Director of the Astronomical Observatory at the University of Copenhagen, a post which he held until he retired in 1907.
      
    • As Director of the Astronomical Observatory Thiele had an interest in astronomy.
      

84. Scott Elizabeth biography
    
    • Despite having a supportive Head of Department who arranged summer assistantships for her at the Lick Observatory where she was allowed to use the telescopes, Scott became increasingly convinced that those who had urged her not to pursue a Ph.D.
      
    • Subsequently Scott became involved in a long-range study being carried out by the famous astronomer and director of the Lick Observatory Charles D Shane who wanted to know if there existed any statistical laws that could explain the apparent phenomena of what he termed the 'lumpy' nature of the distribution of galaxies.
      

85. De Prony biography
    
    • In 1785 de Prony visited England on a project to obtain an accurate measurement of the relative positions of the Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory.
      

86. Ward Seth biography
    
    • Ward set up an observatory at Wadham and was the first person at Oxford to teach the Copernican system.
      
    • I have spent much of my time (beside my readings which excepting Xmas to have been continual since the 10 of October) in building a slight observatory for the matter of my profession and in procuring and fitting Telescopes and other instruments for observation so that the account I can give of those 2 designs, I mentioned to you, is but small yet somewhat I have done in both of them, and in that which I look on as the chief I have in Xmas time made not only a progress but an alteration to a good advantage.
      

87. Abbe biography
    
    • Abbe was appointed professor of physics and mathematics at Jena in 1870 and, in 1878, he was appointed director of the astronomical observatory at Jena and of the meteorological observatory at Jena.
      

88. Petit Pierre biography
    
    • He wanted the King to establish a Royal Observatory to allow France to again take a leading role in astronomy.
      
    • Petit's instrument was later used by Giovanni Cassini in the Royal Observatory in Paris.
      

89. Segner biography
    
    • In 1743 Segner was put in charge of the construction of the university observatory which was finished in 1751.
      
    • He continued to write good textbooks and in Halle, as in Gottingen, he established an observatory.
      

90. Laplace biography
    
    • Also in 1795 the Bureau des Longitudes was founded with Lagrange and Laplace as the mathematicians among its founding members and Laplace went on to lead the Bureau and the Paris Observatory.
      
    • never should one put a geometer at the head of an observatory; he will neglect all the observations except those needed for his formulas.
      

91. Cosserat biography
    
    • After graduating he was appointed to the Observatory in Toulouse in 1886.
      
    • In 1908 Cosserat was appointed to the chair of astronomy at Toulouse, becoming director of the Observatory there for the rest of his life.
      

92. Lobachevsky biography
    
    • He also served as Head of the Observatory and was clearly strongly influencing policy within the University.
      
    • There was a vigorous programme of new building, with a library, an astronomical observatory, new medical facilities and physics, chemistry and anatomy laboratories being constructed.
      

93. Goldie biography
    
    • Following this training he was sent to work at Falmouth Observatory.
      
    • He was sent to Eskdalemuir Observatory where he became L F Richardson's senior assistant in computational weather forecasting.
      

94. Nassau biography
    
    • He was chairman of the graduate division from 1936 to 1940, and was also director of the Case Western Reserve University Warner and Swasey Observatory from 1924.
      
    • Among the honours given to Nassau, we mention that the Nassau Astronomical Station at the Warner and Swasey Observatory is named after him.
      

95. Whittaker biography
    
    • He became the Royal Astronomer of Ireland in 1906 and moved to Dunsink Observatory where Hamilton had worked.
      
    • The Observatory was not well equipped and his appointment as Royal Astronomer was more to teach mathematical physics at the University than to undertake observational astronomy.
      

96. Aepinus biography
    
    • In 1755 Aepinus became director of the Observatory in Berlin and he was elected to the Berlin Academy.
      
    • Director of a major observatory may seem a strange appointment given that Aepinus' mathematical interests seemed far removed from astronomy.
      

97. Bliss Nathaniel biography
    
    • Following this he set up instruments in Oxford creating the fourth observatory in the city.
      
    • In addition Bliss undertook astronomical work with George Parker, the second earl of Macclesfield, who had established an observatory at Shirburn Castle.
      

98. Woodhouse biography
    
    • He also became the first director of the Cambridge University observatory which had just been newly built.
      
    • He held this latter professorship, and was head of the Observatory, until his death in 1827.
      

99. Sharp biography
    
    • He first worked at the Royal Observatory Greenwich for some months during 1684-5 as assistant and instrument maker to John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal.
      
    • At the Royal Observatory, Sharp produced eclipse data, tables of the motions of Jupiter's satellites and assisted Flamsteed in the construction of instruments.
      

100. Al-Kashi biography
     
     • In 1424 Ulugh Beg began the construction of an observatory in Samarkand and, although the letters by al-Kashi are undated they were written at a time when construction of the observatory had begun.
       

101. Fogels biography
     
     • In 1958 the Riga Pedagogical Institute was closed down and since Fogels' health was rather poor by this time so he did not seek another position until 1961 when he was appointed as a research fellow at the Radio Astrophysical Observatory of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
       

102. Kirchhoff biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

103. Herglotz biography
     
     • It was discovered on 13 August 1898 by Gustav Witt at the Urania Observatory in Berlin.
       

104. Bhaskara II biography
     
     • Bhaskaracharya became head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical centre in India at that time.
       

105. Fatou biography
     
     • He graduated in 1901 and then decided that the chance of obtaining a mathematics post was so low that he would apply for a position in the Paris Observatory.
       

106. Ptolemy biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

107. Fizeau biography
     
     • He attended Arago's lectures at the Observatory, and enrolled in a course on optics at the College de France given by the famous Henri Victor Regnault.
       

108. Lemaitre biography
     
     • Now, with the strong mathematical background obtained from his studies with de la Vallee Poussin, Lemaitre turned towards mathematical astronomy and went to Cambridge in England where he studied with Eddington during the academic years 1923-24, then he went to the United States spending the next academic year at the Harvard College Observatory in Massachusetts.
       

109. Troughton biography
     
     • He made the Groombridge Transit Circle in 1805 and a six foot Mural Transit Circle in 1810 which was erected at the Observatory in Greenwich in 1812.
       

110. Peirce Charles biography
     
     • He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on 30 January 1867, then from October 1869 to December 1872 he conducted research in astronomy as an assistant at Harvard Observatory.
       

111. White biography
     
     • in 1882, White was appointed as an assistant to John Monroe Van Vleck in the astronomical observatory at the Wesleyan University, then he moved to Centenary Collegiate Institute, Hackettstown, New Jersey where he taught mathematics and chemistry for a year before returning to the Wesleyan University to become a tutor.
       

112. Weber biography
     
     • This telegraph was a battery operated line 3000 metres long connecting the Physical Laboratory and the Astronomical Observatory at Gottingen, allowing simultaneous magnetic observations at the two sites.
       
     • Weber insisted that Listing should keep the chair so he returned to Gottingen in 1849 as the Director of the Astronomical Observatory.
       

113. Clavius biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

114. Houel biography
     
     • Le Verrier was impressed with Houel's work and tried to persuade him to accept a post at the Observatory in Paris.
       

115. Hayes biography
     
     • In 1887-88 Hayes observed at the Leander McCormick Observatory of the University of Virginia.
       

116. De Beaune biography
     
     • It enabled him to build up an extensive library as well as to build himself an observatory.
       

117. Mineur biography
     
     • Mineur had always been interested in astronomy and, in 1925, he left teaching to take up a post in the Paris Observatory.
       

118. Molyneux Samuel biography
     
     • Molyneux and Bradley collaborated in innovative designs for reflecting telescopes from 1723 to 1725 and Molyneux set up an observatory at his home in Kew House.
       

119. Wilson Alexander biography
     
     • Rather he was in charge of the Dowanhill observatory, newly built by Glasgow University, which operated as a research establishment.
       

120. Runge biography
     
     • While in the United States he visited Yerkes Observatory and was offered a professorship by George E Hale but he declined.
       

121. Mayer Tobias biography
     
     • In 1754 Mayer was made Director of the Gottingen Observatory where he continued to work until his death.
       

122. Legendre biography
     
     • He became an associe in 1785 and then in 1787 he was a member of the team whose task it was to work with the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London on measurements of the Earth involving a triangulation survey between the Paris and Greenwich observatories.
       

123. Stokes biography
     
     • Stokes became engaged to marry Mary Susanna Robinson, the daughter of the astronomer at Armagh Observatory in Ireland.
       

124. Duarte biography
     
     • For several years Duarte split his professional work between scientific investigations, teaching at universities, and occupying posts such as Consul of Venezuela in Geneva (7 January 1924-1929) and Director of the Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory Juan Manuel Cajigal (4 January 1936-1941).
       

125. Noether Max biography
     
     • At this stage Noether was interested in astronomy, so before beginning his university studies he spent a short period at Mannheim Observatory.
       

126. Wallace biography
     
     • He took an active interest in the erection of the Observatory on the Carlton Hill and the monument to Napier.
       

127. Leimanis biography
     
     • He next went to Copenhagen Astronomical Observatory where he studied celestial mechanics.
       

128. Heine biography
     
     • He also attended geometry lectures by Steiner, and astronomy lectures by J F Encke, the director of the observatory.
       

129. Ramsden biography
     
     • See [The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : 1675-1975, Proc.
       

130. Molyneux William biography
     
     • On his journeys he met, among others, Huygens in The Hague, Leeuwenhoek in Delft, and Jean-Dominique Cassini at the Paris Observatory.
       

131. Peirce Benjamin biography
     
     • He was also appointed to a scientific council of three who organised the Dudley Observatory at Albany, New York, from 1955 to 1858.
       

132. Turnbull biography
     
     • Gregory's Observatory .
       

133. Mason biography
     
     • Mason held the position of president until 1936 when he moved to California to join the team directing the construction of the Palomar Observatory.
       

134. Richardson biography
     
     • When World War I broke out in 1914 Richardson was working for he Meteorological Office as superintendent of the Eskdalemuir Observatory.
       

135. Moore Eliakim biography
     
     • One summer he worked as an assistant to Ormond Stone, who was the director of the Cincinnati Observatory, and from this time on Eliakim knew that he wanted to study mathematics and astronomy at university.
       

136. Puiseux biography
     
     • From 1855 to 1859 he worked at the Paris Observatory.
       

137. Amsler biography
     
     • Back in Switzerland, Amsler worked for a year at the observatory in Geneva.
       

138. Brahmagupta biography
     
     • Brahmagupta became the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain which was the foremost mathematical centre of ancient India at this time.
       

139. Castillon biography
     
     • In 1765 Frederick the Great named Castillon 'Royal Astronomer' at the Berlin Observatory.
       

140. Lucas biography
     
     • After this he worked at the Paris Observatory under Le Verrier.
       

141. Jeans biography
     
     • In 1923 he undertook research at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California where he was appointed as Research Associate.
       

142. Lyapin biography
     
     • This he did by undertaking meteorological research at the Main Geophysical Observatory in Leningrad.
       

143. McVittie biography
     
     • McVittie held appointments as follows: Assistant Lecturer at Leeds University 1930-34; Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh 1933-34; Reader at King's College, University of London 1936-48; Professor at Queen Mary's College, University of London 1948-52; Professor at Illinois University Observatory 1952-1972; and Honorary Professor at the University of Kent at Canterbury 1972-1988.
       

144. Liu Hong biography
     
     • He was appointed to the Imperial Observatory in 160 and was involved in making astronomical observations.
       

145. Lepaute biography
     
     • It was not long after Nicole-Reine married that Jerome Lalande, who was at that time a law student, became fascinated by astronomy and was given a room above the porch of the Palais du Luxembourg to use as an observatory.
       

146. Frenet biography
     
     • He was also director of the astronomical observatory there and, in this capacity, he conducted meteorological observations.
       

147. Linnik biography
     
     • In 1933 he was appointed a professor at Leningrad State University, and in 1946 he was appointed to the Pulkovo Observatory.
       

148. Greaves biography
     
     • Greaves was appointed Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in 1924.
       

149. Newton biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

150. Kepler biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

151. Milne biography
     
     • Elected a Fellow of Trinity College shortly after he came back to Cambridge, Milne was appointed assistant director of the Solar Physics Observatory in Cambridge in 1920.
       

152. Poretsky biography
     
     • Platon Poretsky worked as an astronomer and observer first at Kharkov Observatory and then at Kazan University.
       

153. Al-Khujandi biography
     
     • It was Fakhr ad-Dawlah who supported al-Khujandi in his major project to construct a huge mural sextant for his observatory at Rayy, which is near modern Tehran.
       

154. Galileo biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

155. Bernoulli Johann(III) biography
     
     • Frederick II asked him to revive the astronomical observatory of the Academy but this was not a task for which Johann(III) was particularly well suited.
       

156. Euler biography
     
     • he supervised the observatory and the botanical gardens; selected the personnel; oversaw various financial matters; and, in particular, managed the publication of various calendars and geographical maps, the sale of which was a source of income for the Academy.
       

157. Hubble biography
     
     • Today his name carried by the best telescope we have, not on Earth, but a satellite observatory orbiting our planet.
       

158. Wronski biography
     
     • He began to undertake scientific work in Marseilles, joining the observatory there in 1803, and started to work out a theory of the universe and its origins.
       

159. Aristarchus biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

160. Chandrasekhar biography
     
     • At first he worked in Yerkes Observatory, part of the University of Chicago in Wisconsin.
       

161. Robins biography
     
     • He also improved the instruments at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
       

162. Harriot biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

163. Aristotle biography
     
     • High Altitude Observatory .
       

164. Wintner biography
     
     • He made two important visits during 1929-30, one to Rome where he worked with Levi-Civita, and the other to the observatory in Copenhagen where he worked with E Stromgren.
       

165. Kelland biography
     
     • He was also active in the Edinburgh Society of Arts, a member of the Board of Visitors of the Edinburgh Observatory, an examiner for several of Edinburgh's schools and colleges, and a founder and actuarial adviser of the Life Association of Scotland.
       

166. Pfaff biography
     
     • He was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Halle in 1810 and in 1812, on the death of Klugel, he took on the directorship of the University Observatory too.
       

167. Gassendi biography
     
     • Peiresc had attended lectures by Galileo on astronomy and had become so interested that he set up an observatory in 1610.
       

168. Rocard biography
     
     • A site was found for the radio astronomy observatory at Nancay in the Cher region, 200 km due south of Paris.
       

169. Plana biography
     
     • Plana had already worked with Francesco Carlini on geodesy, and the director of the observatory in Milan suggested to Plana that he might collaborate with Carlini on problems relating to the motion of the moon.
       

170. Plateau biography
     
     • It was Quetelet who arranged for Plateau and his friends to frequently visit the National Observatory which encouraged his interest in astronomy.
       

History Topics

1. Neptune and Pluto
   
   • Bouvard (1767-1843), a French astronomer who was director of the Paris Observatory, had already published accurate tables of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn in 1808 and he now undertook to produce a corrected version of Delambre's tables for Uranus.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • In June 1845 Arago, the director of the Paris observatory, persuaded Le Verrier to start work on the problem of Uranus's orbit.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • He sent has predictions to James Challis, the director of the Cambridge Observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • I could not expect, however, that practical astronomers, who were already fully occupied with important labours, would feel as much confidence in the results of my investigation, as I myself did; and I therefore had our instruments put in order, with the express purpose, if no one else took up the subject, of undertaking the search for the planet myself, with the small means afforded by our observatory at St John's.
     
   • Le Verrier approached the Paris Observatory to search for the planet but after a very brief search they lost interest.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • .the extreme probability of now discovering a new planet in a very short time, provided the powers of one observatory could be directed to search for it.
     
   • On 9 July Airy asked Challis to begin a search at the Cambridge Observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • Galle received the letter on 23 September and together with his assistant Heinrich d'Arrest began a search that night at the Royal Observatory in Berlin.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • He built a private observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona specifically to study the planet.
     
   • A search was begun at the Flagstaff Observatory in 1915 and for two years they photographed the area of the sky in which "Planet X", as Lowell called it, was predicted.
     
   • Another American astronomer, William Henry Pickering (1858-1938), actually constructed Lowell's Flagstaff Observatory in 1894.
     
   • He moved to the Harvard College Observatory and, in 1919, he also predicted a position of a trans-Neptunian planet using the discrepancies in both the orbits of Uranus and Neptune as data.
     
   • A search of photographs taken at the Mount Wilson Observatory failed to find the planet at the position predicted by Pickering.
     
   • In May 1930 the Flagstaff Observatory proposed the name Pluto for Planet X.
     

2. Longitude1
   
   • He did propose the setting up of an observatory to provide accurate lunar data in his attempts to convince the commissioners.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • These sites were far from ideal for research purposes and Colbert was able to obtain a grant from the King to set up the Observatory of Paris in Faubourg, St Jacques, far enough from Paris to avoid lights and other problems.
     
   • On 21 June 1667, the day of the summer solstice, the Observatory officially opened and observations were made to determine the exact location of the new Observatory.
     
   • The meridian line through the Observatory became the official meridian line of Paris.
     
   • The data was now better than when Galileo first proposed the method and so observations began at the Paris Observatory and Colbert set about bringing Cassini to Paris.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • Soon Cassini was in charge of the Paris Observatory and he began a project to use the moons of Jupiter method in conjunction with the new data available for the size of the Earth to map the World.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • On the third floor of the Paris Observatory Cassini had laid out a planisphere, a map of the World using an azimuthal projection with the North Pole at the centre.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • However Picard took with him a pendulum clock which had been carefully calibrated in the Paris Observatory before he left.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     

3. Longitude2
   
   • That same year the Royal Society began to plan to set up an observatory which Moore offered to finance but another proposal came from a Frenchman Le Sieur de St Pierre claiming to have solved the longitude problem using astronomical data.
     
   • Moore also arranged for Flamsteed to visit the King and tell him of Jean Picard's work in the Paris Observatory and the French attack on the longitude problem.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • Flamsteed, playing the 'national pride' card, stressed to the King how the French had a Royal Observatory for this work and the King quickly moved so that England could match France.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • Within two days of Flamsteed's appointment, Greenwich had been accepted as a site for the new observatory, the site being chosen by Wren.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • The building the Royal Observatory at Greenwich began in 1675 designed by Wren and directed by Hooke.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • One of Flamsteed's first projects at the Royal Observatory was to attempt to prove that the Earth rotated on its axis at a constant rate.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • You can see a picture of the observatory.
     
   • The Greenwich Royal Observatory had to provide large amounts of data and Flamsteed spent 15 years from 1689 to 1704 compiling tables of the moon for the lunar distance method of finding the longitude.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • You can see a picture of the Royal Observatory.
     

4. U of St Andrews History
   
   • However he had already begun work on an observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • In 1673 the university allowed Gregory to purchase instruments for the observatory, but (things have not changed much!) told him he would have to make applications and organise collections for funds to build the observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • In fact Gregory went home to Aberdeen and took a collection outside the church doors for money to build his observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • A new observatory was built in St Andrews several hundred metres south of the university library, probably to Gregory's specification, but almost certainly Gregory had left St Andrews before it was completed.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • I was ashamed to answer, the affairs of the Observatory of St Andrews were in such a bad condition, the reason of which was, a prejudice the masters of the University did take at the mathematics, because some of their scholars, finding their courses and dictats opposed by what they had studied in the mathematics, did mock at their masters, and deride some of them publicly.
     
   • He actively supported Gregory in his plans for the new Observatory and, when Gregory left for Edinburgh, Sanders was appointed in 1674 to the Regius Chair of Mathematics.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • The observatory set up by James Gregory was dismantled in 1736 and does not seem to have been used by Charles.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     

5. Greek astronomy
   
   • He built an observatory on Cnidus and from there he observed the star Canopus.
     
   • The observations made at Eudoxus's observatory in Cnidus, as well as those made at an observatory near Heliopolis, formed the basis of a book concerning the rising and setting of the constellations.
     

6. Size of the Universe
   
   • Harlow Shapley, working at the Mount Wilson Observatory in the United States, began to try to work out the shape and size of the Milky Way using Cepheids as a measure of distance.
     
   • Vesto Slipher, who had worked at the Lowell Observatory with the 24-inch telescope there since 1901, had been asked to investigate the spiral nebulas by Percival Lowell.
     
   • He was employed as a janitor at the Mount Wilson observatory but had been taught to operate the telescopes.
     

7. Orbits
   
   • The observational data used by Newton in the Principia was provided by the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • An important development occurred on 13 March 1781 when the astronomer William Herschel (father of John Herschel) observing in his private observatory in Bath, England found .
     Go directly to this paragraph
     
   • The observations were confirmed on 29 September 1846 at the Paris observatory.
     Go directly to this paragraph
     

8. Orbits references
   
   • W H McCrea, The Royal Observatory and the study of gravitation : Address at a reception on 17 July 1975 in celebration of the tercentenary of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Notes and Records Roy.
     

9. Orbits references
   
   • W H McCrea, The Royal Observatory and the study of gravitation : Address at a reception on 17 July 1975 in celebration of the tercentenary of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Notes and Records Roy.
     

10. Harriot's manuscripts
    
    • It is somewhat ironical that Hornsby, best known for his role in setting up the Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford, himself made tens of thousands of observations which were not published until 1932, about 150 years after they were recorded.
      
    • Zach was now appointed as director of a new astronomical observatory to be built at Seeberg, Gotha.
      

11. Modern light
    
    • Using a light path of length 35 km from the Mount Wilson observatory to the telescope on Mount San Antonio, he found the value of 299,796 km per sec.
      

12. EMS History
    
    • About 25 were Mathematics masters, a couple were Rectors such as George Thom at the Dollar Institution, then there was James Bolam, a self-taught mathematician from the Government Navigation School in Leith, Robert Omond who headed at The Observatory, Ben Nevis, a number of Edinburgh undergraduates, a few Ministers of religion, and a few university teachers of mathematics and natural philosophy.
      

13. Mayan mathematics
    
    • The Caracol building in Chichen Itza is thought by many to be a Mayan observatory.
      

Famous Curves

Societies etc

1. Swedish Academy of Sciences
   
   • The first building erected by the Academy was an Observatory on the highest hill in the city.
     
   • The city of Stockholm took over the Observatory building in the 1930s but it was acquired again by the Academy in 1999 and it is now a History of Science museum with emphasis on astronomy.
     
   • Astronomy has always been a major research area in the Academy and they built a new Observatory in Saltsjšbaden, on the southeast edge of the city of Stockholm.
     
   • However in 1973 the running of the Saltsjšbaden Observatory was taken over by Stockholm University.
     

2. Berlin Academy of Science
   
   • Euler accepted, arrived in Berlin on 25 July 1741, and became Head of the Observatory of the Academy later that year.
     
   • he supervised the observatory and the botanical gardens; selected the personnel; oversaw various financial matters; and, in particular, managed the publication of various calendars and geographical maps, the sale of which was a source of income for the Academy.
     
   • Johann(III) Bernoulli was appointed to the Academy in 1764, at the age of 19, and Frederick II asked him to revive the astronomical observatory of the Academy.
     

3. EMS Founder Members
   
   • The Observatory, Ben Nevis .
     

References

1. References for Halley
   
   • H E Bell, The Savilian professors' houses and Halley's observatory at Oxford, Notes and Records Roy.
     
   • C A Ronan, Edmond Halley as Astronomer Royal : The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : 1675-1975, Vistas Astronom.
     

2. References for Airy
   
   • J E Kennedy, Exchanges of correspondence between Sir G B Airy and William Brydone Jack, The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich: 1675-1975, Vistas Astronom.
     
   • A J Meadows, The Airy era, The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : 1675-1975, Vistas Astronom.
     

3. References for Ulugh Beg
   
   • M S Bulatov, Ulugh Beg's observatory in Samarkand (Russian), Istor.-Astronom.
     
   • H Hobden, Ulugh Beg and his Observatory in Samarkand, Astronomy Now 2 (1988), 32-36.
     

4. References for Greaves John
   
   • R T Gunther, The first observatory instruments of the Savilian professors at Oxford, The Observatory 60 (1937), 190-197.
     

5. References for Ramsden
   
   • A Stimson, The influence of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich upon the design of 17th and 18th century angle-measuring instruments at sea, in The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : 1675-1975, Proc.
     

6. References for Horrocks
   
   • W T Bulpit, Misconceptions concerning Jeremiah Horrocks, the Astronomer, The Observatory 27 (478) (1911), 335-337.
     

7. References for Picard Jean
   
   • The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich: 1675-1975, Proc.
     

8. References for Bliss Nathaniel
   
   • Nathaniel Bliss, in E Walter Maunder, The Royal Observatory Greenwich A Glance At Its History And Work (London, 1900).
     

9. References for See
   
   • T J J See, Astronomer, 96: Co-Founder of Observatory Dies - Disputed Einstein (The New York Times, 5 July, 1962), 22.
     

10. References for Hadley
    
    • A Stimson, The influence of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich upon the design of 17th and 18th century angle-measuring instruments at sea, Vistas Astronom.
      

11. References for Molyneux Samuel
    
    • R H Scott, History of the Kew Observatory, Proc.
      

12. References for Newcomb
    
    • E W Brown, Simon Newcomb, Observatory 33 (1910), 222.
      

13. References for Sharp
    
    • S Melmore, Abraham Sharp's universal instrument, The Observatory 61 (1938), 248-250.
      

14. References for Lepaute
    
    • W T Lynn, Mrs Lepaute, The Observatory (432) (1911), 87-88.
      

15. References for Lalande
    
    • C H Cotter, The development of nautical astronomical inspection tables in the period from 1770-1919 : The origins, achievement and influence of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : 1675-1975, Proc.
      

16. References for Mayr
    
    • A O Prickard, The 'Mundus Jovialis' of Simon Marius, The Observatory 39 (1916), 367-381; 403-412; 443-452; 498-504.
      

17. References for Savary
    
    • Paper 142: x Ursae Majoris, The Observatory 118 (October 1998), 273- 275.
      

18. References for Al-Maghribi
    
    • G Saliba, Solar observations at the Maraghah observatory before 1275 : a new set of parameters, J.
      

Additional material

1. Gregory's Observatory
   
   • Gregory's Observatory .
     
   • We give here details of Gregory's observatory which was either the Upper Hall of the University Library or perhaps above it.
     
   • Gregory's Observatory .
     
   • shall judge most necessary and useful," and, since funds were inadequate for the purpose, authorised him to make such applications and collections as he saw fit in order that "the fabric and form of the most competent observatory ..
     
   • Gregory went back to the city of his Alma Mater, Aberdeen, in search of funds, and there "a collection [was taken] at the Kirk Dores for the Observatory at Saint Andrews." .
     
   • A copy in the handwriting of Flamsteed has recently been found, in the Greenwich Observatory, of a letter from Gregory, dated 19 July 1673, in which he seeks advice of Flamsteed concerning instruments for the contemplated observatory at St Andrews.
     
   • Flamsteed had suggested fitting a wall quadrant of eight foot radius for observational purposes, which Gregory liked "exceedingly." "But" he adds "the Walls of our observatory being already built in the top of one of our Colleges, can admit none such: seeing they decline considerably from the meridian, the matter of 9 or 10 degrees.
     
   • The actual observatory was therefore either the Upper Hall or else a still higher room raised in the same block.
     
   • Gregory says further that the building was to be 59 feet long, 26 feet wide [The Upper Hall of the Library is 26 feet wide and 76 feet long] and 13 feet high, at which level a "platform" should be "put on, and then towards the North part of it a Chamber should be taken 20 foot square, leaving by the one side an entrance 6 foot broad and 20 foot long to enter the Observatory, which at this rule is 39 foot long and 26 foot broad.
     
   • We would have it have 6 Windows, 2 on each wall at equal distances from the corners of the Observatory and from each other; each Window should be 4 foot from the floor, 3 foot broad and 9 high to the platform.
     
   • Thus a platform, raised 13 feet above the floor of the observatory, would give the observer a clear view towards the northerly horizon - over South Street and all the buildings further North.
     
   • This certainly suggest that the actual observatory was on a floor higher than that of the present Upper Hall (which had then a low ceiling).
     
   • If so, the floor of the observatory was at the level of the present gallery to the Upper Hall.
     
   • The word Observatory is used in this letter in 1673, three years earlier than the first quotation in the Oxford English Dictionary.
     
   • A few years later and certainly before 1713 a new Observatory was erected outside the University precincts near what was then the Lade Braes path.
     
   • Standing on the head of the brae which rises from Kinness Burn the Observatory would be in a good position for its purpose.
     
   • It is probable that what remained of the Observatory was then razed to the ground, in common with many other objects of historical or architectural interest and importance.
     
   • http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Extras/Gregory_Observatory.html .
     

2. The Samarkand Observatory
   
   • The Samarkand Observatory .
     
   • The Samarkand observatory, for the construction of which Ulugh Beg was primarily responsible, was left untouched when Samarkand was conquered by Uzbeks in 1500.
     

3. The St Andrews Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
   
   • In this room is preserved an astronomical timepiece made to the order of Gregory about 1673 by the celebrated clockmaker Joseph Knibb, and an inlaid line on the floor of the room is said to mark the position of Gregory's original meridian line; at all events this room was certainly used by him as an observatory.
     
   • Although an observatory, planned by Gregory four years before the founding of Greenwich Observatory, was built on a site near the southern end of West Burn Lane it is doubtful whether it was ever occupied by him.
     
   • No trace of this building now remains, but to-day a new observatory stands on a site adjacent to the University Playing Fields.
     
   • In 1939 Dr E Finlay Freundlich was appointed to the lectureship, and work on the erection of a new observatory began.
     
   • The two-hundred inch Newtonian reflector at Mount Palomar actually carries the observer inside the tube, high above the floor of the observatory.
     
   • In order to expedite the crucial tests on actual star photographs the optical parts, after being subjected to the preliminary optical tests in St Andrews, were inserted in the mounting of the Newtonian telescope at the Mills Observatory in Dundee, a procedure to which the Custodians of the Mills Observatory readily agreed.
     
   • Visitors to the Festival of Britain Exhibition will be able to see an accurate full-sized model of the pilot telescope as at present mounted in the Mills Observatory.
     
   • The entire work of construction of the pilot model has been carried out in the workshops of the University Observatory in St Andrews by R Waland, assisted by W Threadgill, and J G Bruce, Curator of the Mills Observatory.
     
   • The entire course of construction demands a high degree of skill, and even the layman cannot fail to be impressed by the accuracy and the fine workmanship which is everywhere evident in the workshops of the Observatory.
     
   • The extensive calculations which led to the design of the new telescope have been carried out under the direction of Dr E H Linfoot, John Couch Adams Astronomer in the University of Cambridge and Assistant Director of the Cambridge Observatory, who has made a special study of new and improved optical systems for telescopes.
     

4. Hevelius: fire
   
   • Hevelius's observatory destroyed by fire .
     
   • A letter describing the fire which destroyed Hevelius's home and observatory at Danzig on 16 September 1679 (26 September on the new calendar) was sent to Peter Wyche, the British Consul to the Hanseatic Cities, by D Capellus.
     
   • These Hevelius occupied and on these he had erected that famous and incomparable observatory.
     
   • Nothing at all of all these remained, not anything of the steel mirrors or other things of value in the Observatory, which all were burnt before any human effort could bring help.
     
   • If one reckon up the immobile property lost, he mourns for three large ornate front houses, handsomely built and with walls calculated to resist fire, upon which was placed the greater observatory, near to which was another, smaller, in which were housed the greater sextant, of metal, as well as the horizontal quadrant, with many other smaller instruments.
     
   • He lost also the two rear houses and two others lately erected, hi which one saw the printing office, with the octagonal observatory and that great and elaborate azimuthal quadrant specially adapted to meridian altitude observations.
     

5. Flamsteed v Newton
   
   • In the summer of 1694 Newton went by boat down the Thames to Greenwich for his first meeting with Flamsteed at the Royal Observatory.
     
   • Later, as President of the Royal Society, Newton got control of the Royal Observatory and had Halley print Flamsteed's star catalogue without his knowledge.
     
   • I had resolved aforehand his knavish talk should not move me; showed him that all the instruments in the Observatory were my own; the mural arch and voluble quadrant having been made at my own charge, the rest purchased with my own money, except the sextant and two clocks, which were given me by Sir Jonas Moore, with Mr Towneley's micrometer, his gift, some years before I came to Greenwich.
     
   • This nettled him; for he has got a letter from the Secretary of State for the Royal Society to be Visitors of the Observatory, and he said, "as good have no observatory as no instruments." .
     

6. The Tercentenary of the birth of James Gregory
   
   • We can picture him laying plans for his observatory, gaining the confidence and friendship of men of goodwill who provided means for gathering the necessary instruments; his occasional journey to Edinburgh or London or homewards to the north: the famous occasion when he persuaded his townsfolk to hold a church door collection throughout Aberdeen to supply instruments for the observatory at St Andrews! Here stands his own pendulum clock, made by Joseph Knibb of London, with its large dial curiously divided into 60 parts for the seconds, a reminder that, only a few years before, Huygens had discovered the secret of the pendulum.
     
   • There, beyond the boundary wall of the college grounds, once stood a small building, Gregory's observatory.
     
   • He tells us why he left in a letter to a friend at Paris : "I was ashamed to answer, the affairs of the Observatory of St Andrews were in such a bad condition; the reason of which was, a prejudice the masters of the University did take at the mathematics, because some of their scholars, finding their courses and dictats opposed by what they had studied in the mathematics, did mock at their masters, and deride some of them publicly.
     
   • Gregory's Observatory .
     

7. EMS obituary
   
   • He was Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1924-38.
     
   • At Greenwich, the part of the Chief Assistant was to foster the research aspects of the Observatory's work both by initiating new investigations and by consultation on those already in progress.
     
   • But Greaves saw to it that the Observatory's resources, and in particular its director, made every possible contribution to the national effort.
     
   • The latter included that of the solar department and the first conventional Schmidt telescope to be used regularly at a British observatory.
     

8. Edinburgh Mathematical Society members 1929
   
   • JOHN JACKSON, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.A.S., Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, S.E.
     
   • MADWAR, B.Sc., Ph.D., Helwan Observatory, Egypt .
     
   • NASSAU, C.E., M.Sc., Director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
     
   • Naval Observatory, Mare Island, California .
     

9. Tait's 1888 address to the graduates
   
   • Take as a first instance of this new danger the Edinburgh Observatory, which it is now proposed to hand over to us ; a white elephant of truly colossal proportions! It had no original connection with the University, though the use of it was given in 1834 to the Professor of Practical Astronomy.
     
   • The University may perhaps signalise its assumption of irresponsible power by simply starving the Observatory for a year, and so getting rid of it for ever: the clause as to non-alienation notwithstanding ! A Commission, of which I was a member, reported in 1877 to the House of Commons, the position and prospects of this establishment.
     
   • The cost or putting the Observatory, its staff, and its instruments in complete working order would of itself swallow up, for a year at least, the greater part of Edinburgh's share of the proposed Grant! I need not add more.
     

10. Tait graduates address.html
    
    • Take as a first instance of this new danger the Edinburgh Observatory, which it is now proposed to hand over to us ; a white elephant of truly colossal proportions ! It had no original connection with the University, though the use of it was given in 1834 to the Professor of Practical Astronomy.
      
    • The University may perhaps signalise its assumption of irresponsible power by simply starving the Observatory for a year, and so getting rid of it for ever: tho clause as to non-alienation notwithstanding ! A Commission, of which I was a member, reported in 1877 to the House of Commons, the position and Prospects of this establishment.
      
    • The cost or putting the Observatory, its Staff, and its imstruments in complete working order would of itself swallow up, for a year at least, the greater part of Edinburgh's share of the proposed Grant ! I need not add more.
      

11. Napier Tercentenary 4.html.html
    
    • In the course of the proceedings congratulatory addresses were presented by representatives of the University of Strasburg, the Royal Danish Academy of Science, and the Observatory of the University of Varsovie.
      

12. William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
    
    • Elizabeth was the sister of Percival Lowell, the astronomer who founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who became President of Harvard, and Amy Lowell, who became a famous poet.
      

13. Napier Tercentenary
    
    • In the course of the proceedings congratulatory addresses were presented by representatives of the University of Strasburg, the Royal Danish Academy of Science, and the Observatory of the University of Varsovie.
      

14. Finlay Freundlich's Inaugural Address
    
    • Only very few of the English Universities had, until a few years ago, a chair of Astronomy, or maintained research at an Observatory; Scotland is, in this respect, definitely further advanced; for now in three out of the four Scottish Universities Astronomy is represented.
      

15. The Upper Hall of the University Library
    
    • Gregory_Observatory .
      

16. Colin Maclaurin
    
    • These included the organisation of surveys of dangerous parts of the Scottish coastline, the preparation of Life Tables for the Churches and Universities Widows' and Orphans' Fund, and the establishment of a physical laboratory and an observatory in the University; the plans for the latter, which was to have been in the neighbourhood of the south-west corner of the present Quadrangle, were near fulfilment, but had to be abandoned in the unsettled political situation of the Rebellion.
      

17. The Edinburgh Mathematical Society: the first hundred years
    
    • Of these 15 had a university connection, including five from Cambridge, but about 40 were teachers, of whom five came from George Watson's, and one (R T Omand) was the director of the observatory on the summit of Ben Nevis.
      

18. Andrew Forsyth addresses the British Association in 1905
    
    • Your Astronomer Royal, in the Royal Observatory at Cape Town, will not lightly forget his gift of a great telescope: and the University of Cambridge, the grateful recipient of his munificent endowment of the Isaac Newton Studentships fifteen years ago, and of his no less munificent bequest of manuscripts, early printed books, and objects of art, has done what she can towards perpetuating his memory for future generations by including his name in the list, that is annually recited in solemn service, of her benefactors who have departed this life.
      

19. A conversation about Finlay Freundlich
    
    • He took her to his St Andrews house in Lawhead Road, just a little further out of the town than the University Observatory where he worked.
      

20. Gibson History 9 - Colin Maclaurin
    
    • The establishment of an astronomical observatory, the proposals for more accurate surveys of the northern coast of Scotland, the subject of Arctic Expeditions, memoirs on the proper gauging of vessels for the use of the Excise, calculations for the basis of a Pension Fund for the widows of ministers and of professors, all claimed and received his attention.
      

21. Eddington on the Expanding Universe
    
    • Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory, University of Cambridge .
      

22. Eddington on the Expanding Universe
    

23. Heinrich Tietze on Numbers, Part 2
    
    • At 19 he had heard Gauss lecture in the small auditorium of the Gottingen Observatory.
      

24. The South-Troughton quarrel
    
    • South after doing good work with smaller instruments, chiefly on double stars, erected an observatory at Camden Hill, Kensington, about 1826.
      

25. EMS 1934 Colloquium
    
    • Some sixty-five persons attended, including fourteen professors of mathematics drawn from the Universities of England, Scotland, Ireland and Egypt and also Professor W de Sitter, the Director of the Observatory at Leiden and one of the foremost astronomers of the day.
      

26. Cassini and the Division in Saturn's Ring
    
    • There is an observation by Hevelius in the English Journal, which corresponds to the first of these two phases; but as he has noted neither the band of Saturn, nor the distinction which can he seen in the ring, one has reason to judge that the telescopes which he uses are much inferior to those of the Royal Observatory.
      

27. Bessel and the Royal Astronomical Society
    
    • He mentioned the case of Dr Brinkley's parallaxes, and stated that in his own observatory two excellent meridian circles, placed beside each other, gave at certain seasons places of the pole star that differed from each other; the reason of which disagreement he had not found out.
      

28. Cassini and the Division in Saturn's Ring
    
    • There is an observation by Hevelius in the English Journal, which corresponds to the first of these two phases; but as he has noted neither the band of Saturn, nor the distinction which can he seen in the ring, one has reason to judge that the telescopes which he uses are much inferior to those of the Royal Observatory.
      

29. Turnbull lectures on Colin Maclaurin
    
    • Colin Maclaurin had great skill also in experimental physics: he proposed an astronomical observatory for Scotland and offered, as a contribution towards the cost, the fees which he received from his lectures upon practical physics.
      

30. EMS 1934 Colloquium 2.html
    
    • Some sixty-five persons attended, including fourteen professors of mathematics drawn from the Universities of England, Scotland, Ireland and Egypt and also Professor W de Sitter, the Director of the Observatory at Leiden and one of the foremost astronomers of the day.
      

31. Gregory tercentenary
    
    • There, beyond the boundary wall of the College grounds, once stood a small building, Gregory's observatory.
      

32. Lawson: Merchiston Castle
    
    • The Committee's business is to explore ways and plans to found a Chair and equip an observatory in honour of Napier.
      

33. D'Arcy Thompson on Plato and Planets
    
    • D'Arcy Thompson published Plato's Theory of the Planets in the October 1904 edition of The Observatory.
      

34. Gregory's Astronomical Clock
    
    • Gregory's Observatory .
      

35. John Maynard Keynes: 'Newton, the Man
    
    • At the top of this stairway stood his telescope - not to be confused with the observatory erected on the top of the Great Gate during Newton's lifetime (but after he had left Cambridge) for the use of Roger Cotes and Newton's successor, Whiston.
      

Quotations

Chronology