Michael Topping (1747 – 7 January 1796) was the Chief Marine Surveyor of

Fort St. George Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress at the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...

in Chennai (then Madras) responsible for founding the oldest modern technical school outside Europe. The Survey School was completed on 17 May 1794, with an initial intake of eight students. In 1858 it became the Civil Engineering School and the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

in 1861. Topping was also the first full-time modern professional surveyor of India having surveyed the seas off the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

, India's south-east coast. Topping came to Madras in 1785 as a marine surveyor aboard the East India Ship Walpole. On the suggestion of

Alexander Dalrymple Alexander Dalrymple (24 July 1737 – 19 June 1808) was a Scottish geographer, hydrographer, and publisher. He spent the greater part of his career with the British East India Company, starting as a writer in Madras at the age of 16. He s ...

, he conducted a triangulation survey of the Coromandel Coast from Madras to Masulipatnam in 1788, making use of a sextant. Topping suggested that this triangulation could be done across India, however this approach was only taken up much later by William Lambton. Topping was appointed from 1794 to survey water reservoirs and in order to conduct his "tank surveys" he sought to train (in his survey school) youths of mixed, that is, of European-Indian parentage from the Madras orphanage, and deploy them across southern India at a sixth of the allowances needed for military surveyors and without the need for interpreters. Topping persuaded astronomer William Petrie to transfer his private observatory to the government and set up the first modern astronomical observatory, the

Madras Observatory The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by William Petrie in 1786 and later moved and managed by the British East India Company from 1792 in Madras (now known as Chennai). The ...

, in

Nungambakkam Nungambakkam is a locality in downtown Chennai, India. The neighborhood abounds with multinational commercial establishments, important government offices, foreign consulates, educational institutions, shopping malls, sporting facilities, tou ...

. Topping succeeded Petrie as the director of the observatory from 1789 to 1796 when he died. He died of fever on 7 January 1796 and is buried in

Machilipatnam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar (), is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the Tehsil, mandal ...

with a memorial with a Latin inscription. Topping was succeeded by

John Goldingham John Goldingham (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 Col ...

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* (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Topping, Michael 1747 births 1796 deaths 18th-century British astronomers British East India Company people