Madras Observatory
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The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by
William Petrie William Petrie (1747 – 27 October 1816) was a British officer of the East India Company in Chennai (formerly Madras) during the 1780s, and was Governor of Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) from 1812 to 1816. An amateur astronomer, Petrie he ...
in 1786 and later moved and managed by the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
from 1792 in Madras (now known as
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
). The main purpose for establishing it was to assist in navigation and mapping by recording the latitude and maintaining time standards. In later years the observatory also made observations on stars and geomagnetism. The observatory ran from around 1792 to 1931 and a major work was the production of a comprehensive catalogue of stars.


History

The observatory was established due to the efforts of William Petrie, an amateur astronomer who had a small private observatory at Egmore in Madras. Petrie's original observatory was established in 1786 and was made of iron and timber. In 1789, Petrie gifted his instruments to the Madras Government before retiring to England. Sir
Charles Oakley Charles Oakley (born December 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. Oakley played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association ( ...
accepted Petrie's plea to establish an official observatory for the purpose of "''promoting the knowledge of astronomy, geography and navigation in India''". The building was designed by Michael Topping on the bank of the river Cooum at Nungambakkam. The building consisted of a single room 40 feet long and 20 feet wide with a 15-foot ceiling. At the centre a granite pillar of 10 tons supported a 12-inch azimuth transit circle instrument made by Troughton. These were used to make observations on the meridian that began on 9 January 1793. Topping died in 1796 and was succeeded by
John Goldingham John Goldingham FRS (1767 - July 1849) was the first official astronomer of the Madras Observatory, appointed in 1802. Goldingham was also an architect and surveyor who headed the Madras Survey School which later grew into the Guindy Engineering ...
who was formerly Petrie's assistant, Government Architect and Editor of the ''Government Gazette'' apart from serving as first superintendent of the Engineering School. Goldingham determined the longitude as 80° 18' 30" based on eclipses of Jupiter's moons. This was the value used as a benchmark by
William Lambton Lieutenant-Colonel William Lambton, FRS (c. 1753 – 20 or 26 January 1823) was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer who began a triangulation survey in 1800-1802 that was later called the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. His init ...
for the
Great Trigonometrical Survey The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project that aimed to survey the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was begun in 1802 by the British infantry officer William Lambton, under the auspices of the East India Company.Gil ...
. When Goldingham went on leave between 1805 and 1810, the observatory was maintained by Lt. John Warren (born Jean-Baptiste Francois Joseph de Warren, 21 September 1769 – 9 February 1830, Pondicherry) who recalculated the longitude as 80°17'21"E. He recorded observations on the comet of September 1807 and computed the declinations of several stars. Goldingham returned in 1812 and served until 1830 when he was replaced by Thomas Glanville Taylor who measured the positions of 11,000 stars which were published in five volumes which came to be known as the "Madras Catalogue". Taylor's estimate of the longitude for Madras was 80°14'20"E. Taylor also made observations on the comet of 1831. Taylor was replaced by Captain
William Stephen Jacob William Stephen Jacob (1813–1862) was an English immigrant astronomer in India, who acted as the director of the Madras Observatory from 1848 to 1859. His early claim of 1855 to have detected an exoplanet, in orbit around 70 Ophiuchi, is now th ...
in 1848, who continued the work on star positions. Jacob found orbital anomalies in the binary star
70 Ophiuchi 70 Ophiuchi is a binary star system located 16.6 light years away from the Earth. It is in the constellation Ophiuchus. At magnitude 4 it appears as a dim star visible to the unaided eye away from city lights. History In the Ptolemy's ...
that he claimed were evidence of a possible
extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
. Major W.K. Worster held position briefly. From 1859 to 1861 Major J.F. Tennant was in charge of the observatory and magnetic observations began to be made using vertical force and declination magnetometers. In 1861,
N. R. Pogson Norman Robert Pogson, CIE (23 March 1829 – 23 June 1891) was an English astronomer who worked in India at the Madras observatory. He discovered several minor planets and made observations on comets. He introduced a mathematical scale of ste ...
became astronomer. Pogson was assisted by C. Ragoonathachary. In 1872, an accurate clock was added to the observatory and a telegraph line between the observatory and Fort St George helped in accurate timing of a gun at noon and 8 pm. Three rooms were added for photography. Pogson was succeeded after his death by C. Michie Smith who moved to Kodaikanal to study solar physics in 1899 was replaced by R.L. Jones, professor of physics at Presidency College. After this period only routine astronomy for time-keeping purposes was continued, as well as weather observations, and in 1931 the observatory was shut down. The granite pillar continues to stand and a more recent inscription has the "Madras Meridian" marked on it. Madras_Observatory 1926.jpg, c. 1925


See also

*
List of astronomical observatories This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in ...


References


External links


Madras Observatory related publications, Madras
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Chennai Astronomical observatories in Tamil Nadu 1786 establishments in the British Empire British East India Company 1931 disestablishments in India Meteorological observatories