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Royal Observatory Greenwich Itinerary |
Birkbeck Physics Summer trip Saturday 24 th June 2006 |
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Royal Observatory Greenwich Itinerary |
Birkbeck Physics Summer trip Saturday 24 th June 2006 |
The solution to the Longitude problem began when the mistress to King Charles II, Louise de Keroualle Duchess of Portsmouth, reported a suggestion to him made by the Frenchman Sieur de St Pierre. The notion that the path of the moon against the backdrop of the fixed stars could be plotted & that the heavens could be used like a huge clock in order to determine Longitude. This lunar distance method held out hope and in 1675 Charles II founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich & appointed John Flamsteed the 1st Astronomer Royal " in order to apply with the uptmost care & diligence to the rectifying the tables of the motions of the heavens and the places of the fixed stars so as to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting the art of navigation....."
Mapping the heavens from 17th Greenwich "The celestial geometry of John Flamsteed"
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11.30am (GMT + 1hr) = BST - Meet Entrance to Royal Observatory, Greenwich Park [nearest rail station: Greenwich (BR & DLR) / Maze Hill (BR)] Google search multimap.com for Greenwich SE10 map.
Noon British Summer Time - Tour of the Prime Meridian of the World 0o 0' 00'' The Story of Space & Time - Flamsteed House, Edmund Halley's tombstone, The Longitude prize & Harrison's chronometers. Look out for the Cs Atomic Clock.
1pm - Assemble in courtyard. Watch the Maritime sphere descend for ships on the River Thames. Complete worksheet....
1.30 - 2pm Lunch / Tea & Icecream
2pm - Visit Meridian Building. See the 28inch Refracting Telescope. Souvenir shop & Time for Tea.
3pm - Assemble for Longitude Photographs. Prize for Best Worksheet Answers.
3.30pm - Visit to Planetarium 4 pounds (Optional)
5pm - Picnic in the Park, Supper @ The Spread Eagle restaurant. Tour of Greenwich town & The Cutty Sark clipper, Riverside Pub Walk to an Historic quayside Inn.
| Charles I (1625-49) | Cromwell (1653-58) | Interregnum | Charles II (1660-85) | James II (1685-88) |
| English Civil War | John Evelyn Sylva | Pepys diary | Flamsteed (1675-1719) | Gresham Astronomy lectures |
| b.Woolsthorpe | Calculus | Universal Gravitation | Lucasian Prof | Principia Mathematica |
| 1642 | 1665(Plague) | 1666(Great Fire) | 1669(Trinity) FRS 1672 | 1687 |
| William & Mary (1689-1702) | Queen Anne (1702-14) | George I (1714-27) | ||
| 1694 Bank of England | St. Paul's | Hist. Coelestis Brit. | Longitude Act 1714 | Halley (1720-1742) |
| Alchemy/Theology/Breakdown | Master Mint | Pres Royal Society | Optiks | Buried Westminster Abbey |
| 1693 | 1700 London | 1703(d.Robert Hooke) | 1704 | 1727 |