 |  |
| Views |
| ||||||
| Astronomy & Geophysics 44 (1) 1.07 | | |||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Kevin Johnson Rousdon telescope recoveredI am writing to fill in some details regarding Peter Hingley's article (A&G 43 5.7) regarding the Rousdon Observatory. The primary telescope that was used by Charles Grover at the Rousdon Observatory (established by Sir Cuthbert Peek in 1884) was acquired by the Science Museum in 2001. It is a refracting telescope of 6.25 inch aperture and 74 inch focal length by G & S Merz, Munich, 1867–71, with a mahogany veneer wooden tube. The telescope is mounted on a German equatorial stand with iron pier and clock drive by Thomas Cooke & Sons, York, that is dated 1871. It was acquired originally in the 1860s by W G Lettsom, a diplomat who then sold it to Cuthbert E Peek in 1882. After the telescope had been shipped to Australia to observe the 1882 transit of Venus, Peek employed Grover to make observations at Rousdon Hall, Devon, until Grover's death in 1916. It was then donated by the Peek family to the University of Durham in the 1920s before it returned to Rousdon Hall in the 60s, now established as All Hallows school. It was after the school's closure in the late 90s that the telescope's existence became known to the London Science Museum. After much negotiation the telescope was acquired in the summer of 2001. Alas the telescope is now in a distressed state – but can be returned to its former glory. It is hoped that in due course this work will be undertaken so that this unique instrument can be made visible to the public once more. The telescope is unusual in that through the help of Jerry Grover, a present-day relative of Charles Grover, it has been possible to piece together the colourful social history of the observatory and its telescope. Journals and other documents give an interesting insight in to the relationship between Grover and Peek, an employer and employee at contrasting ends of Victorian society. This aspect of the social history of astronomy is discussed in detail by Allan Chapman in The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Apart from a few well-known figures, this is an ill-documented field. It is to be hoped that the story of the Rousdon telescope will be a valuable addition to both social and scientific history. Kevin Johnson, Associate Curator – (Astronomy & Mathematics), Science Museum Live, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD; k.johnson@nmsi.ac.uk; www.nmsi.ac.uk/collections/. |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Simon Mitton Remember Fred?I am preparing a scientific biography of Sir Fred Hoyle and am seeking accounts of memorable incidents in his life. Did you attend his lectures? Do you have notes or other details? Can you recall a popular lecture he gave? Were you at any of the famous debates? If you worked on a committee with Fred I'd be interested to learn what he was like in that arena. Did he influence your career? Do you have strong views on his influence on astronomy and cosmology? Can you remember the radio broadcasts of 1949 and the later TV series? I am interested also in being able to interview (phone, email, face-to-face) former research students and co-authors. Dr Simon Mitton, St Edmund's College, Cambridge CB3 0BN; smitton@cambridge.org. |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
P Chapman-Rietschi The beginnings of SETIIan R Carstairs (2002) points out that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) dates back to a paper written in 1959 by Guiseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison. But the historical focus and record of events for this are otherwise. Already in 1931, at the British Association symposium on “The evolution of the universe”, a search for technologically developed extraterrestrial civilizations figured in the talk by Right Reverend E W Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham (1931). Subsequently, Fred Hoyle too, in 1950, suggested a search for high-technology civilizations on extrasolar planets. As a project, SETI surfaced in 1959. At a roadside diner near Boyer, West Virginia, Lloyd Berkner gave the go-ahead to Frank Drake to conduct the first scientific search for technological civilizations in nearby star systems. Drake, who was then a member of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory staff at Green Bank in West Virginia, had earlier worked for Harold Ewen, the discoverer of the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen. The 21 cm line figured in the paper by Cocconi and Morrison, which appeared in September 1959. September 1959 also marked the publication of another paper pertinent to SETI: “Occurrence of life in the universe” by Su Shu Huang (1959). Huang dealt with types of stars capable of supporting well-evolved life within 5 parsec of the solar system. According to his calculations and perceptions, as well as discussions with Otto Struve (proponent of extrasolar planets), only Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti qualify. Both stars are ETI-site candidates in the Cocconi–Morrison paper; they also figure as search targets in the first SETI project conducted at the NRAO, Green Bank, by Drake and his team. Drake – like Cocconi and Morrison – favoured the 1420 MHz frequency of emission for detecting nearby technologically developed civilizations. Clearly, all this started the most exciting and profound scientific venture – the quest for evidence that would bring us a new perspective of the cosmos and ourselves. References Barnes E W 1931 Nature Supplement 128 (3234), 719 –22. Carstairs I R 2002 A&G 43 6.26. Hoyle F 1950 The Nature of the Universe Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Huang S S 1959 American Scientist 47 397 –402. P Chapman-Rietschi, Liestalerstrasse 10, CH-4127 Birsfelden, Switzerland. |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Françoise Launay The Moon maiden of Cassini's mapPeter Hingley asked me about Cassini's maps of the Moon (Hingley 2002) a long time ago, when I was aware only of what was written on them in Charles Wolf's book (Wolf 1902). When I discovered the “Moon maiden”– highlighted in the magnificent exhibition at the British Library last winter (Carlucci and Barber 2001) – I thought it would be worth investigating at the Paris Observatory to try to find out who the lady was. I soon realized that the literature was riddled with mistakes and that the history of Cassini's maps urgently needed to be revisited. The results of my research will appear in a forthcoming issue of L'Astronomie, the bulletin of the Société Astronomique de France (Launay 2003). There the reader will see reproductions of some of the gorgeous observational drawings made in the preparation of the map, and will learn that there were only two print-runs made from the copper plate engraved by Jean Patigny in 1679. The first was printed that year, under Cassini I who arrived in Paris in 1669 to run the Observatory (founded two years earlier). The second series was printed by the Imprimerie Royale in 1787 when Cassini IV (1748–1845), the great-grandson of Cassini I, rediscovered the copper plate which had been lost for many years and was later sold for scrap. The only difference between the two series is the addition of “Carte de la Lune ... de Jean Dominique Cassini”, engraved along the bottom outline of the 1787 edition. The article also gives the story of the “reduced” version of the map, engraved in 1788 by Janinet under Cassini IV. As far as the “Moon maiden” is concerned, I had a feeling that she might be Madame Cassini, née Geneviève de Laistre (1643–1708), because of the dragonfly wings above her head and because of the heart on the map. This hypothesis is now reinforced by the fact that Jean Dominique commissioned a pen-and-ink portrait of his wife in 1678. The name of the artist was... Jean Baptiste Patigny, the son of the artist and engraver of the map of the Moon. I am most grateful to Peter Hingley and to Peter Barber whose questions have been the root of my exciting research. References Carlucci A and Barber P 2001 Lie of the Land, the Secret Life of Maps The British Library 56 –57. Hingley P D 2002 A&G 43 6.7. Launay F 2003 L'Astronomie 117 January. Wolf C 1902 Histoire de l'Observatoire de Paris de sa fondation à 1793 Gauthier-Villars, Paris. Françoise Launay, Observatoire de Paris; Francoise.Launay@obspm.fr. |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| top of page |
