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Edward Troughton
Edward Troughton FRS FRSE FAS (October 1753 – 12 June 1835) was a British instrument maker who was notable for making telescopes and other astronomical instruments. Life Troughton was born at Corney, Cumberland, the youngest of six children to Francis Troughton, a husbandman on a farm, and his wife, Mary Stable. Originally raised to tend animals, Edward went to London in 1773. He then served an apprenticeship with his uncle, John Troughton (b.c.1716) alongside his elder brother, also John Troughton, and in 1779 he became his business partner and soon established himself as the top maker of navigational, surveying and astronomical instruments in Britain. They were based at 136 Fleet Street in central London. Their shop was called the "Sign of the Orrery". In 1795 he delivered what is now known as the Troughton Equatorial telescope to the Armagh Observatory, a 2-inch aperture refractor telescope mounted equatorially, and its first major instrument since its founding in 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is the oldest Royal Society medal awarded and the oldest surviving scientific award in the world, having first been given in 1731 to Stephen Gray, for "his new Electrical Experiments: – as an encouragement to him for the readiness he has always shown in obliging the Society with his discoveries and improvements in this part of Natural Knowledge". __TOC__ History The medal was created following a donation of £100 to be used for carrying out experiments by Sir Godfrey Copley, for which the interest on the amount was used for several years. The conditions for the medal have been changed several times; in 1736, it was suggested that "a medal or other honorary prize should be bestowed on the person whose experiment should be best approved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fellow Of The Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science, and medical science". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence, is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955) and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Groombridge
Stephen Groombridge FRS (7 January 1755 – 30 March 1832) was a British merchant and astronomer. Life He was born at Goudhurst in Kent on 7 January 1755. He succeeded when about 21 to the business in West Smithfield of a linen draper named Greenland, to whom he had been apprenticed. Later, and until 1816, he was a successful West India merchant. He lived mainly at Goudhurst, where he built a small observatory; but moved to Blackheath in 1802. In 1806, using a then new transit circle built by Edward Troughton, he began compiling a star catalogue of stars down to about eighth or ninth magnitude. He spent ten years making observations on the Groombridge Transit Circle and another ten years doing reductions of the data (correcting for refraction, instrument error and clock error). In 1827 he suffered a "severe attack of paralysis" from which he never fully recovered. Others continued the work, continuing with corrections for aberration and nutation among others. Groombr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick Carden.The Founding of Kensal Green Cemetery Accessed 7 February 2014 The cemetery opened in 1833 and comprises of grounds, including two conservation areas, adjoining a canal. The cemetery is home to at least 33 species of bird and other wildlife. This distinctive cemetery has memorials ranging from large mausoleums housing the rich and famous to many distinctive smaller graves and includes special areas dedicated to the very young. It has three chapels and serves all faiths. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Color Blindness
Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some academic activities more difficult. However, issues are generally minor, and the colorblind automatically develop adaptations and coping mechanisms. People with total color blindness (achromatopsia) may also be uncomfortable in bright environments and have decreased visual acuity. The most common cause of color blindness is an inherited problem or variation in the functionality of one or more of the three classes of cone cells in the retina, which mediate color vision. The most common form is caused by a genetic disorder called congenital red–green color blindness. Males are more likely to be color blind than females, because the genes responsible for the most common forms of color blindness are on the X chromosome. Non-color-blind fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Sheepshanks
Richard Sheepshanks (30 July 1794, in Leeds – 4 August 1855, in Reading) was a British astronomer. Personal life He was born the son of Joseph Sheepshanks, a Leeds textile manufacturer of the well-to-do Sheepshank family of Bilton, Harrogate. His brother was John Sheepshanks (clothing manufacturer and art collector), and his sister was Anne Sheepshanks (astronomical benefactor). He received his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1816. He was called to the bar in 1824 and took orders in Church of England in 1825, but did not practise either profession as the death of his father left him with sufficient wealth to pursue his scientific interests. He had six children from a relationship with an Irish dancer, one of whom was Eleanor Louisa Moravia Henry, also known as Nelly, mother of the painter Walter Sickert and the feminist Helena Swanwick. Sheepshanks gave financial support to the dancer and her husband, who in turn claimed paternity. Professional life Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James South
Sir James South FRS FRSE PRAS FLS LLD (October 1785 – 19 October 1867) was a British astronomer. He was a joint founder of the Astronomical Society of London, and it was under his name, as President of the Society in 1831, that a petition was successfully submitted to obtain a Royal Charter, whereupon it became the Royal Astronomical Society. Life He was born in Southwark in London in October 1785, the son of James South, a pharmaceutical chemist. John Flint South was his younger half-brother. He originally trained as a chemist, then as a surgeon, but his interests in astronomy overtook all things. In 1821 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and in 1822 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Edward Troughton. He won the Copley Medal in 1826 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in that same year. He was knighted by King William IV in 1831. Starting around 1826, James South made plans for a new, larger tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawsuit
- A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil action brought by a plaintiff (a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions) requests a legal remedy or equitable remedy from a court. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint. If the plaintiff is successful, judgment is in the plaintiff's favor, and a variety of court orders may be issued to enforce a right, award damages, or impose a temporary or permanent injunction to prevent an act or compel an act. A declaratory judgment may be issued to prevent future legal disputes. A lawsuit may involve dispute resolution of private law issues between individuals, business entities or non-profit organizations. A lawsuit may also enable the state to be treated as if it were a private ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troughton & Simms
Troughton & Simms was a British scientific instrument firm. It was formed when Edward Troughton in his old age took on William Simms as a partner in 1826. It became a limited company in 1915 and in 1922 it merged with T. Cooke & Sons to form Cooke, Troughton & Simms. The firm had its origins in the instrument-making business begun in 1764 by John Troughton (1716-1788). This business was successively passed down first to nephews, John Troughton (1739-1807) and then to Edward Troughton (1756-1835). In 1826 Edward Troughton took on William Simms as partner. Origins In 1756, John Troughton Senior from Corney, Cumberland, set up business in London, having completed his apprenticeship with London instrument maker Thomas Heath. In 1769, his nephew John Troughton Junior, after completing his apprenticeship with his uncle, set up in business for himself. He took over the business of Benjamin Cole in 1782, a maker of orreries at a shop in Fleet Street called "At the Sign of The Orr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Simms (instrument Maker)
William Simms (7 December 1793 – 21 June 1860) was a British scientific instrument maker. Early life He was born in Birmingham, the second of nine children of William Simms (1763-1828), a toy maker. Soon after William Simm's birth the family moved to London so that William Simms Sr. could help his ailing father, James Simms, who had a jewellery business in Whitecross Street. This business was soon converted to the manufacture of optical instruments. William Sr. prospered and in 1804 he was elected a Freeman of the City. William Simms Jr. was sent in January 1806 to be educated in mathematics by a Mr. Hayward. After two years education in January 1808 he was apprenticed to Thomas Penstone, a member of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. However William's interests lay elsewhere and in 1808 he was apprenticed to his father. Career He was elected a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in 1815 and set up in business for himself, working until 1818 at his father's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society Of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established in 1783. , there are around 1,800 Fellows. The Society covers a broader selection of fields than the Royal Society of London, including literature and history. Fellowship includes people from a wide range of disciplines – science & technology, arts, humanities, medicine, social science, business, and public service. History At the start of the 18th century, Edinburgh's intellectual climate fostered many clubs and societies (see Scottish Enlightenment). Though there were several that treated the arts, sciences and medicine, the most prestigious was the Society for the Improvement of Medical Knowledge, commonly referred to as the Medical Society of Edinburgh, co-founded by the mathematician Colin Maclaurin in 1731. Maclaurin was unhap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
