XXXVI. An account of the observations made on the transit of Venus, June 6, 1761, in the Island of St. Helena: In a letter to the Right Honourable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society, from the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, M. A. and F. R. S

1761 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 196-201 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Right ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne ◽  
Complete Observation

My Lord, I am sorry I cannot have the honour of gratifying your Lordship, and the Royal Society, with an account of a more complete observation of the transit of Venus, than what I here­-with transmit to you.

scholarly journals LXVI. Observations on a clock of Mr. John Shelton, made at St. Helena: In a letter to the Right Honourable Lord Charles Cavendish, Vice-President of the Royal Society, from the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, M. A. F. R. S

1761 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 434-443 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Degree ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Vice President ◽  
The Right ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne

My Lord, When we reflect upon the great degree of perfection, to which the sciences are at present brought, and, at the same time, consider from what low beginnings in former times they have arisen to this hight, we are apt to please ourselves with the idea of a certain kind of superiority, which we imagine we enjoy above the learned, who have gone before us.

scholarly journals XXXIII. Account of an observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the Meridian, near his greatest elongation, Sept. 1786, made by Mr. John Smeaton, F. R. S. with an equatorial micrometer, of his own invention and workmanship; accompanied with an investigation of a method of allowing for refraction in such kind of observations; communicated to the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, D. D. F. R. S. and Astronomer Royal, and by him to the Royal Society

1787 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 318-343 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Right ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne ◽  
Right Ascension

M. de la Lande having announced to some of my astronomical friends the utility of accurate observations of Mercury, at his two elongations the last year, in August and September; I tried to get observations of that planet in crossing the meridian, for some days before and after the greatest elongation in August; and though the state of the atmosphere about that time was not very favourable to the purpose, yet there was one day that I thought unexceptionable, but could not perceive the least appearance of Mercury; at which i was the rather surprised, as I had formerly seen that planet in the like situation, with the same instrument, with perfect perspicuity: and as i did not hear of any one else having succeeded in this observation, I thought it might be very possible for the same disappointment again to happen, with respect to the approaching elongation in September.

scholarly journals XLI. Introduction to the following observations, made by Messieurs Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, for determining the length of a degree of latitude, in the provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania, in North America; by the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, B. D. F. R. S. Astronomer Royal

1768 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 270-273 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
The Right ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne

Messieurs Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who observed the last transit of Venus over the sun, at the Cape of Good Hope, under the direction of the Royal Society, had been since engaged, by the Right Honourable Lord Baltimore and the Honourable Mr. Penn, to settle the limits between the provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania, in North America; which they performed partly by trigonometrical, and partly by astronomical observations.

Mathematicians on board: introducing lunar distances to life at sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIM BENNETT
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
East India Company ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne ◽  
Atlantic Island ◽  
Nautical Almanac

AbstractNevil Maskelyne, the Cambridge-trained mathematician and later Astronomer Royal, was appointed by the Royal Society to observe the 1761 transit of Venus from the Atlantic island of St Helena, assisted by the mathematical practitioner Robert Waddington. Both had experience of measurement and computation within astronomy and they decided to put their outward and return voyages to a further use by trying out the method of finding longitude at sea by lunar distances. The manuscript and printed records they generated in this activity are complemented by the traditional logs and journals kept by the ships’ officers. Together these records show how the mathematicians came to engage with the navigational practices that were already part of shipboard routine and how their experience affected the development of the methods that Maskelyne and Waddington would separately promote on their return. The expedition to St Helena, in particular the part played by Maskelyne, has long been regarded as pivotal to the introduction of the lunar method to British seamen and to the establishment of the Nautical Almanac. This study enriches our understanding of the episode by pointing to the significant role played by the established navigational competence among officers of the East India Company.

XCVIII. Observations on the tides in the Island of St. Helena: in a letter from the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, A. M. F. R. S. to Thomas Birch, D. D. Secretary to the Royal Society

1761 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 586-606 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne ◽  
Made In

Reverend Sir, Not having met with any observations of the tides made in a place so near the line as this, or at an island situated in the middle of so large an ocean, I was desirous of making some experiments on this subject.

scholarly journals VI. A letter from the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, M. A. F. R. S. to William Watson, M. D. F. R. S

1761 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 26-28
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Moon ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne

Sir, In a letter which I wrote to you from this place, the beginning of this week, I desired you would, in your answer to Abbé De la Caille, acquaint him, that I had proposed to the Royal Society the observations of the moon's parallax, before his letter came; and that Dr. Bradley was to make observations at Greenwich, correspondent to mine at St. Helena; and that I was drawing up a list of the proper observations to be made, and the proper stars with which the moon was to be com­pared, which I proposed to transmit to the Abbé De la Caille, in order that he might attend to the same observations, if he thought proper.

XCIII. A letter from the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, M. A. F. R. S. to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D. D. Secretary to the Royal So­ciety: containing the results of observations of the distance of the Moon from the Sun and fixed Stars, made in a voyage from England to the Island of St. Helena, in order to determine the longitude of the ship, from time to time; together with the whole process of computation used on this occasion

1761 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 558-577 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Nevil Maskelyne ◽  
Made In

Sir, During the course of my voyage from England to this place, I made frequent observations of the distance of the Moon from the Sun and fixed star. in order to determine our longitude: and, as from their agree­ment with each other, I humbly conceive it will be allowed, that the longitude may in general be ascer­tained by this method to sufficient exactness for nau­tical purposes, I flatter myself it may not be disagreeable to the Royal Society, if I communicate to them, through your hands, the results of my observations.

scholarly journals XXXIV. On the transit of Venus in 1769. To the Right Honourable The Earl of Morton, President to the Council and Fellows of the Royal Society, this discourse is, with all humility, inscribed, by their humble servant, Thomas Hornsby

1765 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 326-344 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Theory Of Gravity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Made In

The observations of the late transit of Venus, though made with all possible care and accuracy, have not enabled us to determine with certainty the real quantity of the sun's parallax; since, by a comparison of the observations made in several parts of the globe, the sun's parallax is not less than 8" 1/2, nor does it seem to exceed 10". From the labours of those gentlemen, who have attempted to deduce this quantity from the theory of gravity, it should seem that the earth performs its annual revolution round the sun at a greater distance than is generally imagined: since Mr. Professor Stewart has determined the sun's parallax to be only 6', 9, and Mr. Mayer, the late celebrated Professor at Gottingen, who hath brought the lunar tables to a degree of perfection almost unexpected, is of opinion that it cannot exceed 8".

scholarly journals XXV. A letter from Mr. William Mountayne, F. R. S. to the Right Honourable James Earl of Morton, President of the Royal Society, containing some observations on the variation of the magnetic needle, made on board the Montagu Man of War, in the years 1760, 1761, and 1762, by Mr. David Ross, Surgeon

1766 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 216-223 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Right ◽  
Magnetic Needle

My Lord, The following tables I have compared with the variation chart, published in the year 1756, and so find that they agree pretty well in general, making allowance for the time elapsed: it is true, that, in some few places in the Atlantic Ocean, they differ; yet this may probably arise, as is often the case, from an error in the Montagu's supposed longitude, where such observations were made. But the greatest difference (a greater than should arise, I think, according to common course) appears upon the coast of Portugal, Cape Saint Vincent, and about Gibraltar, near and within sight of land, where the observations are ascertained to the spot. Hence, if mine observed about the year 1756, and those of Mr. Ross's, were both near the truth, at the respective times when they were taken, I know not how to account for this considerable encrease, unless those late extraordinary convulsions, in the bowels of the earth, upon those several coasts, may be found, by further experiments, to have there influenced the directions of the magnetic needle.

scholarly journals XIII. On the laws of polarisation and double refraction in regularly crystallized bodies. By David Brewster, LL. D. F. R. S. Lond. and Edin. In a letter to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G. C. B. P. R. S

1818 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 199-273 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Double Refraction ◽  
General Law ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Combined Action ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right

Dear sir, In the different memoirs which you have done me the honour of submitting to the Royal Society, I have considered principally those branches of the polarisation of light which relate to the superficial action, or the superinduced properties of uncrystallized bodies. In the course of these enquiries, my attention was frequently directed to the phenomena of regular crystals; but from the difficulty of procuring proper specimens, and the extreme perplexity of the subject, it was not till lately that I succeeded in reducing under a general principle all the complex appearances which result from the combined action of more than one axis of double refraction. Before I proceed to trace the steps which have conducted me to this general law, I must entreat the indulgence of the Society, while I attempt to give a brief and rapid view of the present state of our knowledge respecting the laws of double refraction. They will thus be able to appreciate more correctly the relative value of those successive generalisations by which this subject has been raised to one of the most interesting departments of physical science.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document