Before his architectural career really got going, he was a professor of astronomy at Oxford University. He chose the site at Greenwich. Every place on earth could be measured in terms of its distance east or west from the Prime Meridian.
This was hugely beneficial when it came to mapping the night sky, with separate observation points able to be recorded in terms of their distance from the Prime Meridian. It was also incalculably useful in terms of seafaring, with distances, times and routes able to be mapped effectively because of the use of a standard longitudinal point. And as the industrial world came into shape, trains, factories and global businesses could use Greenwich Mean Time as a universal measure of time, meaning that the timings of journeys, transactions and production periods could be standardised across the whole planet.
The list of historic timepieces—many of which revolutionised the way we record, measure and keep track of time across different industries—is lengthy.
Airy retired in , to be succeeded by his Chief Assistant, William Christie whose views and approach were altogether rather different. Whilst Airy had been scrupulous in his requests for capital funding, each request for a new telescope being properly costed and preceded by a well-argued case; under Christie things were rather less transparent.
During his period in office there was a massive increase in the number of large telescopes at the Observatory. These were funded in part by the taxpayer and in part from generous donations. On the whole, their purpose was ill defined and their installation chaotic, resulting in delays, extra costs, and a reduction in their overall usefulness. A new Physical Building the present South Building was erected and new areas of work embarked upon.
But Greenwich was a poor site for the erection of large telescopes. It was cramped and the skies polluted … and the pollution was getting worse.
History has been kind to Christie and he is often lauded for the expansion that took place under his command. A much better option, though rather less palatable for Christie from a personal point of view as it would have impacted heavily on his lifestyle , would have been to expand on a new and remote site in the countryside.
Had that happened, even though the best observing sites in the UK were always going to be inferior to those that would eventually be attained overseas, UK astronomy might well have evolved along different lines with the Observatory still having an operational role today. The coming of the First World War had relatively little long term impact. Around half the Junior Assistants signed up as did most of the Computers.
These were the young men employed to turn the many observations into something more useful. Their absence, along with that of the Chief Assistants created a publications backlog which took until the s to clear.
The only physical damage inflicted on the Observatory was caused not by enemy action, but a blast caused by a fire at a chemical factory several miles away across the river that had been adapted for the production of trinitrotoluene TNT.
And with this came the likelihood of such a large increase in magnetic interference from their electrical systems that the magnetic observations would be rendered worthless. As a result, it was decided to move the magnetic observatory away from London to a new site at Abinger in Surrey. By the s, the atmospheric pollution in London was so bad that the then Astronomer Royal, Spencer Jones, believed that a choice had to made: either to move somewhere else, or to stay put and watch as the Observatory inevitably degenerated into a second rate institution.
The Admiralty opted for the former. The Second World War however delayed any move. It also brought a premature end to much of the observing programme at Greenwich, together with the evacuation of those services essential to the war effort. The Nautical Almanac office was evacuated to Bath, the chronometer workshop initially to Bristol and then to Bradford on Avon, and the time service to Abinger. Under Spencer Jones, not only did the Observatory relocate, but the staffing underwent a radical transformation.
Instead of vacancies at all but the most senior level being filled as they had been since the mids by insiders who had entered the Observatory straight from school and risen through the ranks; they began to be filled with graduates from the universities. By the time he retired in , Spencer Jones had overseen an increase in headcount from 57 members of staff to The process of moving the staff and telescopes to a new site at Herstmonceux eventually began in , but was fraught with delays.
It took a further decade for the large equatorial telescopes to become operational and by then most had been out of service for the best part of twenty years. In the meantime the World had moved on, new technologies had developed, and the outlook and expectations of astronomers had changed.
Despite the changes that Spencer Jones had overseen, the work of the Observatory was still almost exclusively confined to positional astronomy. But as with Christie and Airy, the views of Spencer Jones and Woolley on the role of the Observatory were poles apart. Many of the long term observing programmes were axed or curtailed in favour of transforming the Observatory into a national centre for astrophysics centred on the as yet to be completed Isaac Newton Telescope — a large telescope that had been promised to British Astronomers in , and was finally brought into operation in Between conception and final delivery, much had changed, and the siting of the Isaac Newton telescope at Herstmonceux rather than at a better site overseas was the cause of much bitter controversy.
The formation of the Science Research Council SRC in brought the funding of all UK astronomy under the same umbrella for the first time in its history. The change in control from the Admiralty initially had little impact on the day-to-day running of the Observatory. The Board of Visitors ceased to exist. By this time, though, the Magnetic Observatory had long been physically separate from the Astronomical Observatory, having moved first to Abinger in Surrey in and from there to Hartland in Devon in It was when Woolley retired that the SRC began to flex its muscles and exert its influence.
Its first move was to decouple the title of Astronomer Royal from the Directorship of the Observatory. The succession was bungled and much ill feeling created as the staff divided into two camps. It was permitted to keep a much scaled down research programme of its own, but this too had to be in collaboration with university astronomers.
Later that same year, the SRC agreed to the funding of a new Northern Hemisphere Observatory consisting of three large telescopes, including the Isaac Newton which was to be modified and transferred from Herstmonceux.
Also set into the external wall of the Observatory is the Shepherd Hour Gate Clock, one of the first electrically driven public clocks, installed in The dial is set to Greenwich Mean Time that is, it does not take into account the 1 hour switch to British Summer Time. The clock is accurate to 0. Beneath the Shepherd Clock is an Ordnance Survey bench mark plaque marking the official height above sea level, and a set of standardised British Imperial measures.
The measures were mounted here sometime prior to to allow the public to check measures of length against officially standardised lengths. They consist of protruding D-shaped studs set exactly 1 yard, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, and 3 inches apart. Atop a corner turret of Flamsteed House is a large red ball on a gilded pole, installed in Every day at precisely one o'clock the ball rises to the top of the pole, then drops to the bottom.
The ball system was created so that ship captains on the river could set their clocks precisely, and use 'Greenwich Mean Time' for their navigation. Time measured from the Royal Observatory ball was the most precisely measured time in the world.
The Observatory is linked to the modern Planetarium further up the hill, where visitors can enjoy stargazing and regular audio-visual journeys through the Universe. From the railing below the statue you can enjoy fabulous views down the slope of the hill towards Queen's House and the Old Royal Naval College. This is one of London's great views! Most photos are available for licensing, please contact Britain Express image library.
Heritage Rated from 1- 5 low-exceptional on historic interest. Greenwich Park - 0 miles Countryside. Queen Elizabeth's Oak - 0. Queen Caroline's Bath - 0.
Queens House - 0. National Maritime Museum - 0. Ranger's House - 0. St Alfege's Church, Greenwich - 0. Old Royal Naval College Greenwich - 0.
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