John Bird (1709– 31 March 1776) was a British

mathematical instrument A mathematical instrument is a tool or device used in the study or practice of mathematics. In geometry, construction of various proofs was done using only a compass and straightedge; arguments in these proofs relied only on idealized properti ...

maker who was notable for inventing the

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...

. He came to London in 1740 where he worked for Jonathan Sisson and

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Stroller", he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester Unite ...

. By 1745, he had his own business in the Strand. Bird was commissioned to make a brass quadrant 8

feet The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...

across for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, where it was mounted on 16 February 1750, and where it is still preserved. Soon after, duplicates were ordered for France, Spain and Russia. Bird supplied the astronomer

James Bradley James Bradley (September 1692 – 13 July 1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and ...

with further instruments of such quality that the commissioners of longitude paid him £500 (a huge sum) on condition that he take on an apprentice for 7 years and produce in writing upon oath, a full account of his working methods. This was the origin of Bird's two treatises ''The Method of Dividing Mathematical Instruments'' (1767) and ''The Method of Constructing Mural Quadrants'' (1768). Both had a foreword from the astronomer-royal

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...

. When the Houses of Parliament burned down in 1834, the standard

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...

s of 1758 and 1760, both constructed by Bird, were destroyed. Mural Quadrant - by John Bird - London 1773

Bird, with his fellow

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

savant William Emerson, makes an appearance in '' Mason & Dixon'', the acclaimed novel by

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...

References

External links

Biography on South Seas Companion
* https://web.archive.org/web/20040317000544/http://albinoni.brera.unimi.it/HEAVENS/MUSEO/Schede/app1.html 1709 births 1776 deaths 18th-century British astronomers British scientific instrument makers People from Bishop Auckland {{UK-astronomer-stub

References

Further reading

External links