Nevil Maskelyne, the seaman's astronomer

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Bibliographic Information

Nevil Maskelyne, the seaman's astronomer

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

Cambridge University Press, 1989

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Nevil Maskelyne

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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.

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