The Liverpool Observatory at Waterloo Dock Part 1: Origins and controversy
Abstract
The Liverpool Observatory was established in 1844 on the banks of the River Mersey for the purpose of providing accurate time and weather to the public, and rating of chronometers for the maritime community. Funding for the Observatory as a public utility came solely from the Liverpool Town Council. From its inception, the Observatory came under unrelenting criticism for its scale and location on the Waterloo Dock. But under the direction of the astronomer and chronometer expert John Hartnup the Liverpool Observatory soon became synonymous with astronomical excellence. This esteem culminated with the 1855 transatlantic chronometric expedition organized by William Cranch Bond at the Harvard Observatory at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The united efforts of Hartnup and Bond succeeded in establishing the geodetic reference of longitude for the entire North American continent, a standard that prevailed into the era of the transatlantic cable. In this two-part series we shall follow the bumpy road to that triumph.
- Publication:
-
The Antiquarian Astronomer
- Pub Date:
- June 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AntAs..13....2S