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More Observatory Pages |
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The Royal Observatory was founded by King Charles II in 1675 to help navigators at sea find their position by developing ways to fix longitude. The original observatory building, Flamsteed House, was built in 12 months at a cost of £520 9s 1d. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren, designer of St Pauls Cathedral and many other famous landmarks. Greenwich was chosen as the site because it was cheap. The land was already a Royal Park. Bricks were ‘borrowed’ from a military project at Tilbury and wood and lead came from demolition at the Tower of London. |
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The first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, worked for 40 years to produce the first star catalogue accurate enough for navigation. Flamsteed took so long to produce results that in 1714 by act of Parliament, a prize was offered to anyone who could find longitude at sea to half a degree (about 30 miles) after a voyage to the West Indies. The top prize was £20,000—about £4 million in today’s spending power.
It took another 40 years after Flamsteed’s death for the astronomers to complete the work needed to find longitude by the “lunar distance” method. Neville Maskelyne started publication of the British Mariners’ Guide in 1762. After Maskelyne became Astronomer Royal this was published annually as the Nautical Almanac.
In the meantime, a man appeared who was able for the first time, to build a clock that could keep accurate time at sea on a long journey — John Harrison. |
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The Royal Observatory Greenwich |
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Version B03b 26/4/03 |