The Royal Observatory, Greenwich: A Glance at Its History and Work

For the first century of its existence, the lives of its Astronomers Royal formed practically the history of the Royal Observatory. During this period, the Observatory was itsel...

There is no need to give the lives of the succeeding Astronomers Royal so fully as that of Flamsteed. Not that they were inferior men to him; on the contrary, there can be littl...

One day two Scotchmen stood just outside the main entrance of Greenwich Observatory, looking intently at the great twenty-four-hour clock, which is such an object of attention t...

The determination of time is a duty the importance of which readily commends itself to the general public. It is easy to see that in any civilized country it is very necessary t...

The foregoing chapters will have shown that though the original purpose of the Observatory has always been kept in view, yet the progress of science has caused many researches t...

Like a living organism, Greenwich Observatory bears the record of its life-history in its structure. It was not one of those favoured institutions that have sprung complete and...

The determining of the places of the fixed stars which Flamsteed carried out so efficiently in his _British Catalogue of Stars_--the first 'Census of the Sky' made with the aid...

Passing out of the south door of the new altazimuth building, we come to a white cruciform erection, constructed entirely of wood. This is the Magnet House or Magnetic Observato...

One hundred and sixty years from the day when Flamsteed laid the foundation stone of the Observatory, the Royal Warrant under the sign manual was issued, appointing the seventh...

Another department was set on foot by Airy at the same time as the Heliographic Department, and in connection with it; and it is the department which has the greatest of interes...

I had parted from a friend one day just as he met an acquaintance of his to whom I was unknown. 'Who is that?' said the newcomer, referring to me. My friend replied that I was a...

So far the development of the Observatory had been along the central line of assistance to navigation. But the Magnetic Department led on to one which had but a very secondary c...

The two last departments mentioned, the heliographic and spectroscopic, lie clearly and unmistakably outside the terms of the original warrant of the Observatory, though the pro...