Nevil Maskelyne, the seaman's astronomer

Author(s)

• Howse, Derek

Bibliographic Information

Nevil Maskelyne, the seaman's astronomer

Derek Howse ; with a foreword by Sir Francis Graham-Smith

Cambridge University Press, 1989

Other Title

Nevil Maskelyne

Note

Spine title: Nevil Maskelyne

Bibliography: p. [260]-267

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Nevil Maskelyne directed the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for 46 years (1765-1811) and supervised the production of the first 49 issues of the Nautical Almanac. This biography attempts to present the work and achievements of the fifth Astronomer Royal.

Table of Contents

• Part 1 Preparation: the Maskelynes of Purton
• the longitude problem
• the transit of Venus, 1761
• Saint Helena, 1761
• the Barbados trials, 1763-4
• Astronomer Royal, 1765
• the Royal Observatory and its instruments
• the Harrison affair, 1764-7
• the Nautical Almanac. Part 2 Achievement: early years at Greenwich, 1765-9
• the 1770s
• weighing the world - Schiehallion, 1774
• the 1780s - and a new planet
• the 1790s
• the final years, 1800-11. summing up.

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA42308378
• ISBN:
  • 052136261X
• LCCN: 88015967
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Cambridge [England] ; New York
• Pages/Volumes: xiv, 280 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : QB36.M378
  • DC19 : 520/.92/4
  • DC19 : B
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Maskelyne, Nevil, 1732-1811
  • LCSH : Astronomers -- Great Britain -- Biography