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Radcliffe Observatory
Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the building forms part of Green Templeton College of the University of Oxford. History The observatory was founded and named after the physician John Radcliffe (1650–1714) by the Radcliffe Trustees. It was built on the suggestion of the astronomer Thomas Hornsby, who was occupying the Savilian Chair of Astronomy, following his observation of the notable transit of Venus across the sun's disc in 1769 from a room in the nearby Radcliffe Infirmary. The observatory building, at a site on Woodstock Road, commenced to designs by Henry Keene in 1772 and was completed in 1794 to the designs of James Wyatt. It has a prominent octagonal tower based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens, topped with a statue by John Bacon of Atlas holding up the Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. The term ''observatoire'' has been used in French since at least 1976 to denote any institution that compiles and presents data on a particular subject (such as public health observatory) or for a particular geographic area (European Audiovisual Observatory). Astronomical observatories Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space observatory, space-based, airborne observatory, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based. Historically, ground-based observatories were as simple as containing a mural instrument (for measuring the angle between stars) or Stonehenge (which has some alignments on astronomical phenomena). Ground-based observatories Ground-based observatories, located on the surface of Earth, are u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transit Of Venus
A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus reoccur periodically. A pair of transits takes place eight years apart in December (Gregorian calendar) followed by a gap of 121.5 years, before another pair occurs eight years apart in June, followed by another gap, of 105.5 years. The dates advance by about two days per 243-year cycle. The periodicity is a reflection of the fact that the orbital periods of Earth and Venus are close to 8:13 and 243:395 commensurabilities. The last pairs of transits occurred on 8 June 2004 and 5–6 June 2012. The next pair of transits will occur on 10–11 December 2117 and 8 December 2125. Transits of Venus were in the past used to determine the size of the Solar System. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel John Johnson
Manuel John Johnson, FRS (23 May 1805 – 28 February 1859) was a British astronomer. He was born in Macao, China, the son of John William Roberts of the East India Company and was educated at Mr Styles' Classical Academy in Thames Ditton and at the Addiscombe Military Seminary for service in the East India Company (the HEIC). In 1823 he was sent by the HEIC to St Helena, where from 1826 he supervised the building of the Ladder Hill Observatory. He travelled twice to South Africa to consult with Fearon Fallows on the design of the observatory. In 1828 he was made Superintendent of the Observatory. In 1835 he published ''A Catalogue of 606 Principal Fixed Stars in the Southern Hemisphere... at St. Helena'', for which he won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society that same year. While comparing his results with those of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille he noted the high proper motion of Alpha Centauri and communicated these to Thomas Henderson at the Royal Observatory, Cape ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radcliffe Telescope, University Of London Observatory
Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * Radcliffe, Northumberland * Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire ** Radcliffe railway station United States * Radcliffe, Iowa * Radcliff, Kentucky * Radcliffe, Lexington * Radcliff, Ohio Schools * Radcliffe College (1879–1999), a former women's college that was associated with Harvard University * Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (1999–present), a postgraduate study institute of Harvard University that succeeded the former Radcliffe College * The Radcliffe School, a secondary school in Wolverton, Milton Keynes, England Other uses * Radcliffe (surname), including a list of people with the name * "Radcliffe", an episode of the Indian TV series ''Sacred Games'' * 1420 Radcliffe, a main-belt asteroid * Radcliffe baronets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of London Observatory
UCL Observatory (called the University of London Observatory until 2015) at Mill Hill in London is an astronomical teaching observatory. It is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London. History The Observatory was opened, as the University of London Observatory, on 8 October 1929 by the then Astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson, initially to house the 24-inch reflector built by Grubb of Dublin in 1881 and housed in Dr W.E. Wilson's observatory at Daramona, County Westmeath, Ireland, which was donated to the University of London after his death. An 8-inch refractor was installed in 1931 following its donation to the University by H.R. Fry of Barnett the previous year, and was named after him. In 1932, the University received a 6-inch refractor telescope from the estate of Mr. John Joynson of Liverpool. Although originally housed in the North dome in the Bloomsbury campus main quad, it was later relocated to the Observatory. In July 1938, the Ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Museum Of The History Of Science, Oxford
The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Science in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from the newer Ashmolean Museum building completed in 1894. The museum was built in 1683, and it is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum. History Built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole's collection, the building was the world's first purpose-built museum building and was also open to the public. The original concept of the museum was to institutionalize the new learning about nature that appeared in the 17th century and experiments concerning natural philosophy were undertaken in a Laboratory, chemical laboratory in the basement, while lectures and demonstration took place in the School of Natural History, on the middle floor. Ashmole's collection was expanded to include a broad range of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Astronomical Observatory
The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the national centre for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. It was established in 1972. The observatory is run by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The facility's function is to conduct research in astronomy and astrophysics. The primary telescopes are located in Sutherland, which is from Observatory, Cape Town, where the headquarters is located. The SAAO has links worldwide for scientific and technological collaboration. Instrumental contributions from the South African Astronomical Observatory include the development of a spherical aberration corrector and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The Noon Gun on Cape Town's Signal Hill is fired remotely by a time signal from the Observatory. History The history of the SAAO began when the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820, the first scientific institution in Africa. Construction of the main buildings was c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Henry Sacheverell Johnson
George Henry Sacheverell Johnson FRS (1808 – 5 November 1881) was a British clergyman and academic who was Dean of Wells and a professor at the University of Oxford. Life and career Johnson studied at The Queen's College, Oxford, winning a college scholarship, the Ireland scholarship and the university mathematics scholarship. He matriculated there in 1825, aged 17, graduating B.A. in 1829 with a first-class degree, and M.A. in 1833. He was a Fellow of the college from 1829 to 1855. Johnson was ordained into the Church of England in 1834 and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1838. He was appointed Savilian Professor of Astronomy in 1839, although his lack of astronomical knowledge led to the separation of the chair from the post of Radcliffe Observer. In 1842, he changed professorships to become White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, a post he held for three years. He advocated reform of Oxford and its colleges, an unpopular stance which he believed scuppered his c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlas (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Atlas (; , ''Átlās'') is a Titans, Titan condemned to hold up the heavens or sky for eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Hero#Antiquity, Greek heroes: Heracles (Hercules in Roman mythology) and Perseus. According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas stood at the ends of the earth in the extreme Hesperides, west. Later, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa and was said to be the first King of Mauretania (modern-day Morocco and west Algeria, not to be confused with the modern-day country of Mauritania). Atlas was said to have been skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial spheres, celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanids, Oceanid Asia (Oceanid), Asia or Clymene (wife of Iapetus), Clym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bacon (sculptor, Born 1740)
John Bacon (24 November 1740 – 7 August 1799) was a British sculptor who worked in the late 18th century. Bacon has been reckoned the founder of the British School of sculpture. He won numerous awards, held the esteem of George III, and examples of his works adorn St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, Christ Church, Oxford, Pembroke College, Oxford, Bath Abbey and Bristol Cathedral. Biography John Bacon was born in Southwark on 24 November 1740, the son of Thomas Bacon, a clothworker whose family had formerly held a considerable estate in Somersetshire. At the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to Mr Crispe's porcelain manufactory at Lambeth, where he was at first employed in painting small ornamental pieces of china. He was swiftly promoted to modeller and used the additional income to support his parents, then in straitened circumstances. Observing the models sent by different eminent sculptors to be fired at the adjoining pottery kiln determ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the List of urban areas in the European Union, eighth-largest urban area in the European Union (EU). The Municipality of Athens (also City of Athens), which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 (2021) within its official limits, and a land area of . Athens is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE. According to Greek mythology the city was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of The Winds
The Tower of the Winds, known as the in Greek, and by #Names, other names, is an octagonal Pentelic marble tower in the Roman Agora in Athens, named after the eight large reliefs of wind gods around its top. Its date is uncertain, but was completed by about 50 BC, at the latest, as it was mentioned by Marcus Terentius Varro, Varro in his ''De re Rustica'' of about 37 BC. It is "one of the very small number of buildings from classical antiquity that still stands virtually intact", as it has been continuously occupied for a series of different functions. Formerly topped by a wind vane, it is the only surviving horologium or clock tower from classical antiquity. It also housed a large water clock and incorporated sundials placed prominently on its exterior faces; "citizens were thus able by using this building to orient themselves in space and time. Architecture, sculpture and the new science were perfectly integrated". According to A. W. Lawrence, "the originality of this buildin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
