on the trail of comets - society for the history of astronomy | shedding light on the history of...

Issue 10 – March 2006

The frontispiece to Hevelius’great work on comets, theCometographia (published inDanzig in 1668) showing rivaltheories about the origin andmotion of comets. On the leftAristotle demonstrates histheory that comets are terrestrialexhalations that have ascendedto the upper atmosphere. On theright Kepler suggests thatcomets move in straight lines.Seated in the middle Heveliusexpounds his own theory thatcomets are expelled from theturbulent atmospheres of Jupiterand Saturn and move in curvedpaths. The history of the studyof comets was discussed at thestart of the recent RASDiscussion Meeting on Comets:From Antiquity to the PresentDay. This meeting had beenarranged to celebrate thetercentenary of the publicationof Edmond Halley’s Synopsis ofthe Astronomy of Comets in1705. A report appears inside.

(Illustration courtesy of theLibrary of the RoyalObservatory Edinburgh).

On the trail ofcomets

SHA Newsletter – Issue 10 March 2006

Issues of the Newsletter do notusually have a theme. However,more by chance than design, two ofthe articles in this issue are aboutcomets. Comets have long beenconsidered harbingers of doom,though in Classical Antiquity theywere also thought to mark the soulof a departed prince rising toHeaven (an idea consistent withnotions of eschatology in later paganAntiquity). Ever the skilledpropagandist, Augustus Caesarinterpreted the comet of 44 BC asthe ascendant soul of Julius Caesar,thus legitimising his own rule anddeflecting concern that it augured ill.Ironically enough, Augustus’eventual murder in AD 14 washeralded by a blood-red comet.

Such superstitions might seem farfrom our own time. However, asrecently as 1910 comet Halleycaused a similar scare. Dockworkers in Bermuda saw thecomet’s tail briefly turn red during a101-gun salute to honour the new

King George V, recently ascendedto the throne following the death ofEdward VII. The Jamaican dockerswere convinced that the change wasa portent that the new King’s reignwould be marked by war. SinceGeorge V ruled from 1910 to 1936this prediction, however accidental,proved only too accurate.

In this issue Bruce Harper describesthe rather more rational welcomethat the 1910 apparition of cometHalley received from the inhabitantsof Ipswich, Queensland and we alsocarry a report on the historicalaspects of the recent RASDiscussion Meeting about comets.

Issue 2 of the Society’s journal, theAntiquarian Astronomer, wasdistributed in December and hasbeen very well received. Also, somemembers have been kind enough tocompliment recent issues of theNewsletter. The success and, indeed,continuance, of both publicationsdepends on us continuing to receive

articles for publication.Contributions are always welcomeand details of how to submit themare included on the back page, andare also on the Society’s Web site.We look forward to hearing fromyou.

February Council meeting inLondon

A meeting of the Council of theSHA was held on 11 February 2006.Thanks to the kind permission of MrDavid Elliott, Executive Secretary ofthe Royal Astronomical Society, andthe helpful assistance of RASLibrarian and SHA Councillor PeterHingley, the meeting took place inthe Herschel Room on the historicpremises of the Royal AstronomicalSociety in Burlington House,Piccadilly, London.

Before the meeting, Council wasable to view a number of fineoriginal books and documents fromthe RAS Library, including worksby Cassini and Huygens, and notesmade by William Herschel. Much ofthe following news originates from

this very productive meeting, whichsat from 1pm – 5.30pm.

SHA Council meetings in2006

Following the February Councilmeeting, future SHA Councilmeetings will take place as follows:20 May AGM at IOA Cambridge;29 July 1pm Yorkshire Museum and25 November 1pm Sir Robert BallLibrary, Birmingham.

Apart from the AGM, space is verylimited at these meetings, which arenot general Society meetings, so ifany member wishes to present amatter to Council in person, theyshould apply in advance to theSecretary, Stuart Williams. Anyonewishing to table an agenda item atthe AGM or any other Council

meeting should contact theChairman, Gilbert Satterthwaite.

Society events andmeetings for 2006

As usual, the SHA has an excellentprogramme of meetings and eventsfor the remainder of 2006,comprising the Spring Conferenceand AGM, Summer Picnic andAutumn Conference. The theme ofthe Spring Conference is Women inAstronomy and that of the AutumnConference Instruments andImaging.

The Summer Picnic will be held at‘Farthings,’ the home andobservatory of SHA Honorary VicePresident Sir Patrick Moore. TheSociety is extremely grateful to SirPatrick for his continuing generous

EditorialClive Davenhall

Society newsStuart Williams and Clive Davenhall

The obverse of a silver denarius issuedby Augustus Caesar around 19-18 BC

showing the comet of the ‘Divine Julius’(reproduced from The Star of Bethlehem

by Michael R. Molnar, 1999, RutgersUniv. Press)


and practical support. Further detailsof all the events can be found inForthcoming Meetings and Eventson p22. A flyer for the SpringConference and AGM should beenclosed with this Newsletter.

Thanks for early renewals

SHA Treasurer Ken Gowardannounced at February’s Councilmeeting that subscriptions werebeing renewed at a much moresatisfactory rate this year, andthanks are offered to those memberswho have done so, as well asencouragement to those who havenot! It is essential that membersrenew as soon as possible each yearin order that the Society maybalance its cash-flow. If you havenot paid your 2006 subscription yet,please remember your membershipwill lapse at the end of March.

Publications success

Thanks to excellent editorialteamwork combined with theassistance of our printers, Parchmentof Oxford, and mailing organised byPeter Hingley, the second issue ofThe Antiquarian Astronomer andninth edition of the Newsletter weresent out promptly before Christmas,which was a great present to allthose members whose postmen wereon the ball over the festive season!Good progress is already beingmade with issue three of TheAntiquarian Astronomer edited byReg Withey and Kevin Johnson.

Our highly acclaimed publicationshave become one of the mostimportant reasons for joining theSHA, and Council is delighted thatproduction is now both timely andof a high standard. If you think thatyou are missing any copies ofSociety publications please contactthe Secretary Stuart Williams(contact details on the back page).

Survey renamed andfacilities enhanced

The SHA’s Survey of theAstronomical Geography of the UK,one of our most important projects,

has been renamed the Survey ofAstronomical History, following theFebruary Council meeting, where itwas decided that a more conciseappellation would be beneficial.Another benefit of this shorter titleis that it opens the Survey tooverseas members. A corner of theSir Robert Ball Library at theBirmingham & Midland Institutehas now been set up as the HQ ofthe Survey. A number of countybinders have been filled with thecurrent data collection by SHACouncillor Roger Jones, organiser ofthe Survey. The original WindowsPC donated by the BMI will beprimarily dedicated to SHA Surveywork. Members interested in joiningthe Survey should contact RogerJones directly (contact details on theback page).

SHA publicity

Since the last issue of theNewsletter, SHA Councillor MartinLunn has been working busily as ournew Publicity Officer. Several itemshave appeared in recent magazinesas a result, but Martin is still keen toemphasise the need to continue topublicise our existence andactivities, and all members areencouraged to tell their friends,colleagues and societies about theSHA and its work. It is also essentialthe our Web site be kept regularly

up to date, and although this cansometimes be difficult, it is hoped todo so in more timely fashion infuture, as and when new informationis generated. SHA Secretary StuartWilliams was also recentlyapproached to provide a profile ofthe SHA for the popular magazineBBC Sky at Night, and it is hopedthat this will highlight the Society inthe March issue.

SHA publicity leaflet

A new publicity leaflet bearing anendorsement from Sir Patrick Mooretogether with a photograph of himand details of various Societyactivities has been designed byStuart Williams and is aimed atrecruiting new members across theUK. It is hoped to make the newleaflet, which is being printed incolour, available for download fromthe SHA Web site shortly.

Temporary closure of RASapartments

SHA Councillor and RAS LibrarianPeter Hingley has reported that theapartments of the RAS, includingthe Library, will be closed later thisyear for about twelve months forcomplete refurbishment andrearrangement of the interior. Seep22 for further details.

Councillors inspect material from the RAS Library before the recent Council meeting.From left to Right: Martin Lunn, Ken Goward, Roger Jones, Reg Withey, Gilbert

Satterthwaite and Peter Hingley


London Planetarium toclose

The Tussauds Group, who run theLondon Planetarium, haveannounced that from July it will nolonger be used to show astronomicalmaterial, but instead will feature ashow about ‘celebrities.’ As if thereis not enough of such drivel already.

The Planetarium is in BakerStreet in central London,adjacent to MadameTussauds Wax Museum. Itwas built in the 1950s andseats approximately 330 in adome about sixty-feet indiameter. It originally had atraditional opto-mechanicalstar projector. During the1990s this system wasreplaced with one of the firstdigital planetarium systems,which was upgraded asrecently as 2004.

When the Planetarium closesLondon will have no publicplanetarium. However, oneis scheduled to open in 2007as part of the extensiverefurbishment of the RoyalObservatory at Greenwich.

Commander AntonyFanning MBE, DSC, FRAS

With deep regret we report the deathon 29 December 2005 of SHAfounder member CommanderAntony Fanning. CommanderFanning had a distinguished recordas a navigator in the Royal Navybefore, during and after World WarII. For example, in 1942 he tookpart in the infamous ‘channel dash’to intercept the battlecruisersScharnhorst and Gneisenau and onD-day he was ashore as thenavigator of a landing craft.

After leaving the Navy in 1958 hehad a short spell as a lecturer at theLondon Planetarium (itself shortlyto close; see above) but in 1960 hewas recalled to the Admiralty

Compass Observatory (ACO) atSlough and was soon promoted toDeputy Director. CommanderFanning became an accomplishedpractical astronomer and historian,and wrote several books, mostnotably Steady as She Goes (1986),a history of the ACO. In addition tothe SHA he was a member of anumber of societies and, inparticular, was a stalwart of theWilliam Herschel Society.

Despite his considerableachievements, Commander Fanningwill be remembered as much for hiskindness and generosity as hisbravery and intelligence. We extendour deepest sympathy to his familyand many friends. We hope to carryan obituary in the June issue of theNewsletter.

Also, on 17 December2005 a new Planetariumopened in Birmingham aspart of the ThinktankScience Museum atMillennium Point. It canseat seventy and has afully digital projector. See:http://www.thinktank.ac/aboutus/press_stories/pressstory2005_10_28_a.htm.

The London Planetarium

An illustration from Christiaan Huygens’ Systema Saturnium (1659), one of the items on displaybefore the February Council meeting. It shows a collection of early telescopic drawings of

Saturn. The drawings were originally by Galileo (I), Christoph Scheiner (II), Giovanni Riccioli (III,VII, IX), Hevelius (IV - VII), Eustachio Divini (X), Francesco Fontana (XI, XIII) and Pierre

Gassendi (XII) (courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society)


On 8 and 9 November 2005 the first-ever African Astronomical HistorySymposium was held at the SouthAfrican Astronomical Observatory(SAAO), Cape Town, and attractedan audience of about 62. Participantscame from as far afield as Australia,the USA, Sweden and NorthernIreland. The meeting took placeunder the auspices of theAstronomical Society of SouthernAfrica (ASSA) and its HistoricalSection, and was timed to fit in withthe opening of the 11m SouthernAfrican Large Telescope (SALT) on10 November.

The Symposium was launched onthe evening of 7 November with areception in the 19th-centuryastrophysical laboratory of theMcClean Telescope at SAAO. Thislaboratory now contains a museumof small instruments, and for theoccasion, a number of special itemswere also placed on display. After abrief welcome by Dr Ian Glass(SAAO), Professor Brian Warner(University of Cape Town) gave atalk about the venue and some of thecontents of the display cases.

The first day was devoted to thetraditional astronomical beliefs ofthe indigenous peoples of Africa. Inthe first paper, Invited SpeakerProfessor McKim Malville from theUniversity of Colorado, USA,introduced the fascinatingassemblage of astronomicalstructures and monuments found atthe 5000-11,000 year old site of

Nabta Playa in southern Egypt.Three local speakers then discussedthe astronomical beliefs of a morerecent people, the /Xam bushmen ofSouth Africa. Dr Tembo Matomela(Iziko Planetarium, Cape Town)outlined Xhosa beliefs and celestialnomenclature, while Dr LerothodiLeeuw (University of Chicago)discussed the astronomical beliefsprevalent in the Setswana linguisticarea of South Africa and Botswana,with special reference to the Moonand Venus.

For us, one of the highlights of theSymposium was a paper on TheTimbuktu Science Project, presentedby Dr Thebe Medupe (SAAO) andthree colleagues from the Universityof Cape Town. In Timbuktu there

are many manuscriptsdating from the MiddleAges preserved inprivate and publiclibraries. Thesemanuscripts werewritten in Arabic andin the local language,and they document avariety of subjects,including astronomy.The Timbuktu ScienceProject aims to studythese manuscripts, and

produce translations of the moreimportant ones.

Local filmmaker Anne Rogers thendescribed the research that went intothe making of her recent populardocumentary film, Cosmic Africa,which featured Dr Medupe; later inthe day we enjoyed a screening ofthe film itself (which focused onNabta Playa in Egypt, the Dogonpeople of Mali and the Ju/’hoanculture of Northeast Namibia).

The first part of the afternoonfeatured interesting papers on thecultural astronomy of Africa by twoInvited Speakers from the USA, DrJarita Holbrook from the Universityof Arizona and Professor KeithSnedegar from Utah Valley StateCollege. Snedegar painted a broadpicture as his interests uniquelycover both traditional and scientificastronomy in Africa. The secondpart of the afternoon was intended tobe a discussion of Social andhistorical aspects of the proposedNational Research Foundation’sAstronomy Frontiers Programme,and it featured four differentspeakers. The day came to a happyend with a rather jolly dinner at thenearby Wild Fig Restaurant.

African Astronomical History SymposiumIan Glass, Wayne Orchiston and Cliff Turk

Group photograph showing most of those who attended the symposium

An aerial view of the South African AstronomicalObservatory (formerly the Royal Observatory, Cape of

Good Hope)


The second day dealt with modernastronomy in South Africa, andstarted with an illuminating andwell-illustrated talk by Brian Warneron The origin and development ofthe Royal Observatory, Cape ofGood Hope. A complete change ofera was then provided by KobusMeiring, the Project Manager ofSALT, who discussed the SouthernAfrican Large Telescope, tracing itsgenesis from the time that theHobby-Eberly-type design wasadopted to its present state. Hesummarised the international natureof the project, its management andorganisation, the technical changesintroduced and the performancespecifications.

Ian Glass then reintroduced thehistorical papers by discussingThomas Henderson’s first successfulparallax observation of a star,namely Alpha Centauri, which hemade from the Cape Observatory(although he was not the first topublish). Ian also told us aboutInnes’ and Voute’s observations ofProxima Centauri, and Alden’s work(at the Yale station in Johannesburg)which showed that it definitely wasthe nearest star to the Earth – afterthe Sun.

A.W. Herder then deputised for D.J.Vermeulen and provided us with abeautifully-illustrated paper on thehistory of the Transvaal-Republic-Union Observatory in Johannesburg(see the photograph on p11, topleft). The paper included fascinatingglimpses into the history of theUnion Observatory, headed formany years by R.T.A. Innes, anentertaining and in some sensesdubious character about whom muchremains to be told. Vermeulen haswritten a book about theObservatory, and this will bepublished early in 2006. Chris deConing, Director of the ASSA’sHistorical Section, then introducedus to the Section’s Web site,explaining its content and themotivation behind setting it up.

Dr Patrick Seitzer from theUniversity of Michigan , USA spokeabout The large American refractors

in South Africa. Several Americanuniversities set up stations in SouthAfrica in the ‘twenties of the lastcentury. Most of the telescopes theyinstalled were large refractors.While the telescopes are now longgone, several of the buildings havebeen recycled and are used for otherpurposes.

The focus then shifted to the USA inthe next paper, when Dr HakeemOluseyi (University of Alabama)spoke about the difficulties thatAfrican-American astronomers atfirst encountered in obtainingprofessional employment. Hediscussed the careers and work ofseveral past and presentastronomers.

Immediately before lunch, BrianWarner took delegates on a guidedtour of the Royal Observatorycampus. Included in the itinerarywere the main building of SAAO,the De la Rue Heliograph (the domeof which dates from 1849), and the18-inch telescope (ca 1952) used bythe celebrated Alan Cousins forfundamental photometry.

After lunch, the fourth of theoverseas Invited Speakers, DrWayne Orchiston from James CookUniversity, Australia, gave afascinating comparative account ofamateur astronomical activities inAustralia, New Zealand and SouthAfrica between 1850 and 1935.Rupert Hurly from the AstronomicalSociety’s Cape Centre then spokeabout a number of interestinginstruments that have come andgone at the Royal Observatory siteduring the twentieth century.

The chronological focus shiftedwhen Willie Koorts from the SAAOtook the floor and discussed the1882 transit of Venus observationsconducted in South Africa, and hisextensive investigations at observingsites in Wellington and at TouwsRiver and Aberdeen Road. ProfessorDerck Smits (University of SouthAfrica) then traced the history of theUniversity’s astronomy coursessince 1923, from their originalconcentration on positionalastronomy to the courses onastrophysics offered today.

Between 1833 and 1838 Sir John Herschel completed a systematic survey of thesouthern skies using his father’s twenty-foot reflector which was transported to theCape for the purpose. The twenty-foot remains the only major ground-basedtelescope to be used for systematic surveys of both hemispheres. The compendiousresults were eventually published in 1847 as the Results of AstronomicalObservations Made During the Years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8 at the Cape of Good Hope .The illustration shows the telescope erected at the temporary observatoryestablished at Feldhausen, a few miles outside Cape Town


The final paper of the day was by DrMike Gaylard from theHartebeesthoek Radio AstronomyObservatory, who described theforty-year history of the facilityfrom its origin as a NASA trackingstation to its present position as ageneral radio astronomy observatoryinvolved mainly in pulsar studiesand molecular line work.

Apart from the oral presentations,poster papers were displayed by Ian

Glass (Royal Observatory, Cape ofGood Hope: the vanished past),Grahame Rodgers (San scientificastronomy) and Willie Koorts (Thenature of the Dawn’s Heart Star).

The plan is for all of the papers fromthe Symposium to be published inthe journal African Skies during2006. This publication is availablefree of charge on the Web.

All in all this was a very enjoyable,

friendly conference. It was well-organised and well-run, there wereno equipment glitches, and thevolunteers who provided themorning and afternoon teas andlunches did a sterling job. We feelthat its overall successful bodes wellfor the next African AstronomicalHistory Symposium.

Further information

African Skies:http://da.saao.ac.za/~wgssa/archive.html

Astronomical Association ofSouthern Africa, Historical Section:http://www.saao.ac.za/assa/html/39_historicalsection.html

Timbuktu Science Project, see, forexample:http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/september/timbuktu.htm

On Friday 9 December 2005 anRAS Specialist Discussion Meetingwas held on the theme of Comets:From Antiquity to the Present Day.The meeting was arranged, at thesuggestion of RAS Librarian andSHA member Peter Hingley, tomark the tercentenary of thepublication of the Synopsis of theAstronomy of Comets by EdmondHalley (1656-1742). This book wasone of the most influential in thelong history of the study of comets.In it Halley presented orbits forsome twenty-four comets computedusing Newton’s then-new theory ofUniversal Gravitation. He alsoshowed that the comet of 1682(which now bears his name) was thesame object as the comets of 1531and 1607, and he predicted its returnin 1758.

The meeting was held, as RASmeetings are at the present, in thelecture theatre of the GeologicalSociety in Burlington House,adjacent to the RAS’ own premises.So it was that on the morning of 9December I made my way through

the throngs of tourists andChristmas shoppers inPiccadilly. When I got toBurlington House a fire orburglar alarm was soundinginside the GeologicalSociety’s premises, whichdid not auger well.However, fortunately it wasdeactivated before themeeting started. Themeeting lasted all day andwas attended by about fiftypeople. Most of thepresentations were oncontemporary studies ofcomets. However, the firsttwo talks of the morningsession were on historicaltopics, and it these whichwill be briefly reported here.

The morning session waschaired by Prof. IwanWilliams (Queen MaryCollege, University ofLondon). He began byreminding the meeting of theanniversary which hadprompted the meeting and

Comets ancient and modern at the RASClive Davenhall

The title page of Edmond Halley’s Synopsis of theAstronomy of Comets. English and Latin editions

were published in 1705 and in the same yearHalley also reported his work on cometary orbitsin the Philosophical Transactions of the RoyalSociety (courtesy of the Library of the Royal

Observatory Edinburgh)

Gill’s History and Description of the Cape Observatory

The Society’s Sir Robert Ball Reference Library has recently acquired acopy of Sir David Gill’s splendid History and Description of the CapeObservatory (1913). Gill (1843-1914), originally a watchmaker fromAberdeen, was HM Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope (1879-1907).The copy has been acquired as a result of the dispersal of the library of thelate Jon Darius and the Society is extremely grateful to his widow and theScience Museum for their generosity. Further details are given in theLibrary News on p20.


mentioning that there was a smalldisplay of historic material from theRAS’ archives (which unfortunatelyI did not get to see) in the adjacentlibrary of the Geological Society.Included in this display was a copyof Peter Apian’s Practica auff dz.1532. Jar, which is the first text tomention that the tails of cometsalways point away from the Sun.

The first speaker was Dr DonYeomans (NASA Jet PropulsionLaboratory) who spoke on TheViews on Comets Before Newton

and Halley. The title was somethingof a misnomer as the talk was abrisk trot through the history ofcomets both before and after thediscoveries of the second half of theseventeenth century. Dr Yeomansstarted with a very brief overview.Ancient observations of cometswere recorded for astrologicalpurposes. In the Medieval periodcomets were interpreted as signs ofDivine displeasure. The mainquestion asked when a cometappeared was ‘what does it mean:’what human transgression has

provoked the Divine displeasure andwhat retribution did the cometportend? In 1577 Tycho Braheestablished that comets were moredistant than the Moon. Newton andHalley showed that they moved inheliocentric orbits. In the nineteenthcentury the association with meteorstreams was established. Finally, in1950 Whipple proposed his ‘dirtysnowball’ model for the compositionof the nucleus, which subsequentlyproved substantially correct.

Dr Yeomans then elaborated on thisoutline. The most extensive ancientcometary records are Chinese andmostly date from the period 1059 BCto AD 100. The Chinese recordedthe shapes of comets as well as thedate and place of their apparitionsbecause the forms too hadastrological significance. TheWestern tradition was informed byAristotle, who thought that cometswere an atmospheric phenomenon.In his view they travelled in straightlines (rectilinear motion) and wereformed from terrestrial exhalationsrising to the sublunar sphere.

In Classical Antiquity comets werealso associated with astrology. Forexample, the comet of 4 BC wasskilfully exploited by AugustusCaesar to mark the soul of thedeified Julius Caesar ascending toHeaven. Always the skilledpropagandist, Augustus had coinsstruck to commemorate the event.The comet actually appeared afterCaesar’s death and Shakespeareexercised poetic licence when heturned it into an omen: ‘Whenbeggars die, there are no cometsseen; / The heavens themselvesblaze forth the death of princes.’ Thebelief that the souls of departedkings rose as comets became sostrong that when Charlemagne diedand no comet appeared scribessimply invented one.

In Medieval and Renaissance timescomets were widely taken to portenddisasters. After the invention ofprinting, broadsheets predicting direconsequences were routinelypublished after the apparition of acomet. However, the influences

Peter Apian (1495-1552) first noticed that the tails of comets point away from theSun. This diagram appeared in his Practica auff dz. 1532. Jar, published in Landshut

in 1531 (courtesy of the Library of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh)


were not always malign. Forexample, wine produced in 1811was thought to be particularlyexcellent because of the influence ofthe comet of that year (acircumstance which gives a wholenew meaning to the phrase ‘underthe influence’). Kepler and Galileothought that comets moved instraight lines. Hevelius had aningenious theory in which they weredisk-like objects ejected from theturbulent atmospheres of Jupiter andSaturn.

In his 1705 book Halley determinedorbits for twenty-four cometaryapparitions (though some turned outto be multiple returns of the sameobject). He was well aware of theeffects of planetary perturbations oncometary orbits. Consequently, theconfidence with which he assertedthat the 1682 comet would return onhis predicted date decreased insuccessive editions of his book.However, the first realistic estimateof the planetary perturbations on acometary orbit were made by theFrench astronomer Alexis-ClaudeClairaut (1713-1765) who attemptedto predict the reappearance ofHalley’s comet before it wasreacquired. A successful predictionwas made after extensivecalculations by Clairaut and his twoassistants.

Johann Encke (1791-1865)connected the previous apparitionsof the comet that now bears hisname. He noted that on successiveapparitions the comet arrived earlierthan had been predicted andhypothesised that this might be dueto the retarding effect of a hitherto-undetected interplanetary medium.Friedrich Bessel (1784-1846)thought that sun-ward emanationsfrom the cometary nucleus producea radial thrust towards the Sunwhich modifies the orbit. Becausethe effect is not symmetrical withrespect to perihelion the net effect isto make the comet arrive earlier.Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910)first noted the connection betweencomets and meteor streams.

In 1950 Jan Oort (1900-1992)suggested what is now known as the‘Oort Cloud’ of 10 12 comets orbitingat the edge of the Solar System.These bodies are icy conglomerates(‘dirty snowballs’ in Whipple’smemorable phrase) and materialevaporating from their surface asthey pass through the inner SolarSystem is the explanation of thenon-gravitational forces modifyingtheir orbits, rather in the mannersuggested by Bessel, though withthe additional complication that thecomet is rotating. In 1986 Giottobecame the first spacecraft to returnclose-up images to a comet. It sawjets of bright material emergingfrom an otherwise dark nucleus.

Finally, Dr Yeomans concluded bynoting that a theme running throughthe history of comets is that theyhave caused disproportionate publicconcern during their harmlessapparitions (this theme is discussedfurther by Bruce Harper in hisarticle on p10).

The second of the two historicaltalks was by SHA member Prof.David Hughes (University ofSheffield). His topic complementedthe previous talk by more narrowlyfocussing on: Edmond Halley: WhyHe Became Interested in Comets.Prof. Hughes began by describingHalley as the UK’s second greatestscientist, and he was certainly a manof many and variedaccomplishments.

Prof. Hughes listed a number ofreasons why Halley becameinterested in comets, including thefollowing. Firstly, the form ofcometary orbits was a majorunsolved scientific problem of thetime. Kepler’s laws had beenestablished for the planets and abody of data was available, though itwas not obvious that the same lawswould apply to comets. Halley wasan excellent mathematician andwell-placed to tackle the problem. Aseries of impressive cometsappeared around his lifetime.Finally, all Halley’s astronomicalfriends were interested in comets;they were a ‘topic of the times.’

These colleagues included:Flamsteed (though they laterfamously fell out over thepublication of Flamsteed’sobservations), Newton, Hooke,Cassini and Hevelius. All were olderthan Halley, some considerably so.Nonetheless, all were happy to workwith him, which indicates theesteem in which they held him.

The first reasonably accurateobservations of cometary positionshad been due to Tycho. He thoughtthat comets moved in circular orbitsaround the Sun (which itself orbitedthe Earth in his system). Keplershowed that planetary orbits areelliptical, but it was not obvious thatcomets would move in the sameway. Rather, it was thought thatdifferent sorts of bodies might moveaccording to their own rules.

Robert Hooke constructed anartificial cometary nucleusconsisting of a ball of wax encrustedwith iron filings, which hesuspended in a tank of dilutesulphuric acid. He also observed thecomet of 1677 and attempted tomeasure the diameter of its nucleus,but actually only measured the sizeof the luminous inner coma. In 1681Dörffel explained the orbit of thecomet of 1680 as a narrow parabolawith a small focal distance. In 1682Halley started work on the orbit ofthis comet. He first tried a linearorbit, but this did not fit theobservations. He got several of hisassociates to consider the problem.Flamsteed tried an elliptical orbitwhich passed in front of the Sun (hethought the Sun repelled the cometby magnetism). Newton tried anelliptical orbit with the cometpassing around the Sun; his solutionwas basically correct, though heassumed an eccentricity of one. Thisresult was the first propercomputation of a planetary orbit.

In 1696 Halley established that thecomet of 1682, which now bears hisname, had previously appeared in1607. He later realised that thecomet of 1531 was also anapparition of the same object. In1705 Halley published the Synopsis


of the Astronomy of Comets. Itcontained orbits for some twenty-four comets that had appearedbetween 1337 and 1698 (though thecomets of 1531, 1607 and 1682 werethe same object).

Prof. Hughes concluded byremarking that Halley thought that acometary impact had gouged out thebasin of the Caspian Sea, which hadsubsequently filled with water.Thus, in addition to being a pioneerof cometary studies, he was also acatastrophist who prefigured modernconcerns about cometary impacts.

The remainder of the meeting wasabout contemporary studies ofcomets, but no less interesting forthat. The morning session wasmostly about ground-basedobservations. Mark Bailey spoke onthe dynamical evolution of the orbitof Halley’s comet and StephenLowry on studies of the propertiesof cometary nuclei. AlanFitzsimmons searched for cometcandidates amongst the Near-EarthObject (NEO) population and, at theopposite extremity of the SolarSystem, Neil McBride consideredcomets in the Kuiper Belt.

The afternoon session was mostlyabout the in situ exploration ofcomets by spacecraft. Mike A’Hearnspoke on the spectacular (in allsenses of the word) Deep Impactexperiment, Simon Green on theStardust sample-return mission(which was subsequentlysuccessfully recovered on 15January 2006) and Andrew Coatesreviewed cometary plasma tails. Thefinal speaker was Gerhard Schwehmwho looked forward to the Rosettamission, which is now en route to arendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.

In conclusion the two historical talksmade a most informative andenjoyable start to an interesting andproductive meeting. It only remainsto thank all the speakers for theircontributions, the RAS fororganising the meeting and theGeological Society for the use oftheir premises. Finally thanks arealso due to Dr Yeomans and Prof.Hughes for comments on a draftversion of this report.

Further reading

Noah Goldman maintains a usefulWeb page on the history of cometsat URL: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/science/comets-cultures.html

All around the world, the 1910appearance of Comet Halley wasimpressive. Here in the smallAustralian city of Ipswich,Queensland, my grandparents, thenin their early twenties, and several ofmy great-grandparents, viewed thespectacle. They passed on someinteresting memories of it to theirdescendants. What always puzzledme, however, was that there wasnever any hint of the panic that wassaid to have gripped many at thetime in various places (see thereview of Panic Attacks by RobertBartholomew and Hilary Evans onp18). No stories of crazed

neighbours. No end-of-the-worldparties.

Eventually, in 2004, with some timeon my hands, I decided to digthrough the microfilm archives ofthe local newspaper, TheQueensland Times, to learn moreabout what the local experience ofthe comet’s passage had been. Whatsort of information had beenavailable to readers? Would thenewspaper coverage convey anydiscernible public mood or feelingassociated with the event?Moreover, it is not well-knowntoday that in 1910, Comet Halleywas preceded and even upstaged by

the Daylight Comet, discovered inthe southern hemisphere in mid-January and reportedly reaching anapparent magnitude greater than thatof Venus. Had it made the localnews back then? I found that itcertainly had, the first report beingon January 19th, with three morereports during the following weeks.

Halley meanwhile, had beenmentioned as early as August 4th,1909, in an article entitled, ‘Whereis Halley’s Comet?’ Drawing onanother article by a Professor J.Elgie, from a Yorkshire paper, thereport suggested that perhaps thecomet had broken up; it seems that it

Not as funny as it used to be? This cartoon first appeared in Punch in 1930 and wasreprinted in the early 1970s. The original caption read: ‘entertainments at which wehave never assisted. “Tailing the Comet” at a Royal Astronomical Society Dinner.’

Comet Halley 1910 – the view from Ipswich, QueenslandBruce Harper


had not been sighted (telescopically,presumably) at that time. The articleis interesting for its discussion of thefate of comets such as Biela’s, andshows that the newspaper wascertainly not offering ‘lightweightfare’ to its readers. That, in general,was also the trend of most of themany subsequent articles.

Far from having broken up, CometHalley was alive and well. OnFebruary 2nd, the paper reportedthat it had been photographed fromGreenwich. On April 9th, a shortarticle told how my great-grandfather, William Lye, had beensent a postcard by his brother John,in England, that had a photograph ofthe comet taken from Oxford onJanuary 29th. That unexpectedsnippet certainly caught myattention!

The comet drew closer. The firstnaked-eye sighting here in Ipswichwas reported as having been madeby a Mr G. Piggott, who saw it earlyin the morning of April 11th. Similarbrief reports followed, giving peoplea fair idea of where and when tolook. That seems to have beenaround five in the morning, well

above the horizon, and a little northof east.

And the impending doom?The first few months of1910 had also broughtforth articles such as these:‘Halley’s Comet: Expertopinion’ (January 10th),‘About Comets’ (March10th), and ‘Collision withthe comet’ (April 9th).From the viewpoint ofnearly a century later, theyseem as if they wereintended to dispel rumoursthat had probably beencirculating.

For example, in ‘Collisionwith the comet,’ Sir RobertBall is quoted, from aletter in The Times, aswriting, ‘A rhinoceros infull flight would not fearcollision with a cobweb!and the earth need not fearcollision with a comet.’ SirRobert’s letter continuedby pointing out that in1861, the planet hadpassed through the tail of acomet [the Great Comet of1861], but ‘no one knew

anything about it at the time.’

On the other hand, ‘Halley’s Comet:Do comets cause floods?’ (March17th) reported that a weatherforecast for Queensland from March16th to 22nd was for heavythunderstorms, and noted thecoincidence of the approach ofHalley’s comet. The article thenproceeded to link comets withfloods through history, in a way thatmost of us probably encountered inbooks during our schooldays.Another article, ‘Coincidences ofthe comet’ (May 14th) remindedreaders of the old superstition thatcomets were thought to be theheralds of disasters and great events.

On May 20th, The QueenslandTimes reported that ‘the earth meetsthe tail.’ This, it said, was of greatinterest to scientists, some of whomwere planning balloon ascents inattempts to collect samples of thetail. In America, however, peoplewere arranging balls, receptions, and

Comet Halley photographed by H.E. Wood on 6 May 1910 from the TransvaalObservatory outside Johannesburg. The bright object at the top right of the photograph

is Venus. The grid superimposed on the photograph is a réseau. Such grids wereexposed on early astronomical photographs as an aid to accurately measuring the

positions of objects in the image (RAS 297; courtesy of the Royal AstronomicalSociety)

The public response to the 1910 apparition ofComet Halley varied greatly from panic to wonder

and enthusiasm. The latter response is captured inthis delightful cartoon by Axel Nygaard which

appeared in the Danish weekly Klods-Hans andshowed an anthropomorphised comet passing by

the Earth (courtesy of the Mary Evans PictureLibrary and reproduced in Panic Attacks by RobertBartholomew and Hilary Evans, reviewed on p18)

acd

Textbox

Image removed because of licence or copyright restrictions.


breakfast parties on New York hotelrooftops, but in some southernstates, others were suffering from‘comet panic.’ The article reportedthat some had ceased work so as toattend prayer meetings, while otherswere hiding in cellars. Furthermore,insurance agents were ‘reaping arich harvest.’

None of that seemed to affect – orinfect – my hometown. Nowhere didI come across even a trace of asuggestion that fear or panic haderupted in Ipswich. Perhaps anyone

who did harbour feelings ofapprehension simply kept it tothemselves and breathed a sigh ofrelief when nothing happened.Perhaps detailed semi-technicalarticles such as that by Walter F.Gale, FRAS, on April 26th(reprinted from The Sydney MorningHerald), were able to assistschoolteachers, for instance, topresent convincing accounts of whatto expect.

My research was personallyilluminating, for to read the science

of those times in the everyday wordsof those times had an effect that Iwould never have anticipated. Thenext step is to link the newspaperarticles with the available localeyewitness accounts, with the aim ofadding a new dimension of interestto the historical records of whatundoubtedly was a tremendousevent. My own rather clinicalinterest in the 1986 return of thecomet probably had little of the rawcuriosity that my grandparents andgreat-grandparents must have felt in1910.

This article is a progress report onthe Pendrell Hall ObservatoriesProject. Pendrell Hall is a VictorianMansion, set in the SouthStaffordshire countryside, which hasrecently been the site of muchactivity related to the demonstrationof British astronomical history.

Astronomical activities started atPendrell Hall a few years ago whenthe Project Director, John Armitage,established a small modernobservatory in the grounds, the styleof which was modelled on theobservatory that he had previouslyestablished in his own garden. Thisobservatory was of modernmanufacture, containing a twelve-inch Newtonian as the maininstrument and with a range ofsmaller ancillary and specialisttelescopes.

Shortly after this observatory hadbeen constructed it was decided that,in keeping with the Victorian natureof Pendrell Hall, it would beappropriate to construct anobservatory ofauthentic Victoriandesign adjacent tothe modern one,and to placehistoric instruments of the correctvintage within this re-createdVictorian structure.

The search was then on for suitableinstruments. Fortunately, and

without too much difficulty, aVictorian Calver reflector in acondition suitable for restorationwas obtained. This instrument hadonce been owned by the RevdT.E.R. Phillips (President of the

RAS 1927-29). Once the maininstrument for the Victorianobservatory had been secured, thenext requirement was for a transitinstrument to place in theobservatory’s transit house. Again

without too much difficulty aninstrument in a condition suitable forrestoration was acquired.

Both the instruments are beingrestored in our telescope workshop

at Pendrell Hall.At the time ofwriting therestoration of bothinstruments is atan advanced stage,

and they will shortly be operationalin the re-created Victorianobservatory. It is hoped that theobservatory will be completed andfully operational by Easter 2006. Webelieve that the Calver reflector,

Progress Report on the Pendrell Hall Observatories ProjectJohn Armitage

‘We are not just talking about the history of astronomy in Britain;we are actually re-creating it.’

The Pendrell Hall Observatories Group.

Pendrell Hall in Codsall Wood, South Staffordshire, the home of the Pendrell HallObservatories Project


now named the ‘T.E.R. PhillipsTelescope,’ will probably be thefinest example of a restored Calverreflector in England. We also expectit to give good performance in use.The drive, which is a pendulumclock type, seems excellent and isexpected to perform well enough topermit some astro-photography to becarried out with the telescope.

Parallel to the construction of thePendrell Hall Victorian observatory,the Pendrell Hall ObservatoriesGroup is also constructing a similar‘Victorian observatory,’ completewith a transit house, within theconfines of the Black CountryMuseum at Dudley in the WestMidlands. The principal instrumentin this observatory is also to be aCalver reflector, which is currentlybeing restored alongside the T.E.R.Phillips telescope at Pendrell Hall.The Calver reflector destined for theBlack Country observatory is of thesame general construction as theT.E.R. Phillips telescope, but has amuch longer focal length (f11 asopposed to f6.58). This long-focusCalver is expected to be particularlygood for planetary observations.

We are currently in the process ofacquiring a further transit instrumentof suitable Victorian vintage to placein the Black Country transit house.The Black Country project isrunning slightly behind the PendrellHall project, but we expect bothobservatories to be completed andfully operational by Easter 2006.Thus, the current phase of activitywill be concluded within 2006, butthis will not be the end of thePendrell Hall Observatories Project,as it marks only the end of phasetwo of a four phase project. Thesucceeding phases will be asfollows.

Phase Three: is still two or threeyears in the future, though designsand basic plans should be in placeby the end of the present year. Thisphase will involve the constructionof a much larger instrument, oftwenty-four-inch aperture, using anhistoric mirror of f6.8 focal ratio andreputed to be of 1/20 or 1/22 wave

accuracy, which we already posses,and which is expected to giveexcellent diffraction-limitedperformance. The instrument will beconstructed as a Nasmyth-Cassegrain telescope, seeking toincorporate the best traditionalfeatures of this design, but withsome interesting and novelinnovations. This instrument is alsointended to be housed in aVictorian-style observatory. It isvery appropriate that the instrumentshould be a Nasmyth-Cassegrainbecause, as will be explained below,there is an historic connectionbetween Pendrell Hall and JamesNasmyth. This observatory will becalled the ‘James NasmythObservatory.’

Phase Four: lies five or more yearsin the future. It will involve theconstruction of a yet larger reflectorof vintage design, thirty-six-inchaperture and operating at f5.8,though the ultimate configuration isstill to be finalised.

Pendrell Hall’s HistoricAstronomical Connections

Pendrell Hall has a number ofconnections with the history anddevelopment of British astronomy,three or four of which are worthy ofnote.

Lord John Wrottesley, SecondBaron Wrottesley

Lord Wrottesley was activelyinvolved in the development ofastronomy in Britain in the first halfof the nineteenth century, from1820, when he participated in thefounding of the Royal AstronomicalSociety, up his death in 1867. Hewas President of the RAS 1841-43,and was also President of the RoyalSociety 1854-57, (succeeding theThird Earl of Rosse) and Presidentof the British Association in 1860. Aconnection between Lord Wrottesleyand our project at Pendrell Hall canbe established in two ways.

Firstly, during the period when LordWrottesley was President of theRAS he built an observatory in the

grounds of Wrottesley Hall, which isin the same part of SouthStaffordshire as Pendrell Hall. LordWrottesley’s site was at was at 52º37’ N, 2º 13’ W whilst ourobservatory site at Pendrell Hall is at52º 38 N, 2º 13’ W, just fiveminutes drive away. Furthermore,there is a contemporary connectionin that the Pendrell HallObservatories Group is now actingas effective custodian of the oldWrottesley observing site. For anumber of reasons it is not practicalto rebuild Lord Wrottesley’sobservatory, though we intend toimprove its condition. The site willremain a ruin, but all its originalconstituent parts can be clearlydiscerned.

Secondly, we can trace anotherconnection between Lord Wrottesleyand Pendrell Hall in that at one stageLord Wrottesley was married to oneof the Giffards of nearby ChillingtonHall, and Pendrell Hall was oncepart of the Chillington estate.

James Nasmyth

Our connection to James Nasmyth,inventor of the stream hammer andof the Nasmyth-Cassegrain opticalsystem, is via the Gaskell familywho were at one time owners ofPendrell Hall, the last Gaskellsleaving in 1954. The Gaskells werefriends of Nasmyth and acted as

Lord John Wrottesley, Second BaronWrottesley (RAS President 1841-43;courtesy of the Royal Astronomical

Society)


financial backers for some of hisenterprises.

Revd T.E.R. Phillips

Our connection here is simply thatwe possess the telescope that oncebelonged to the Revd Phillips andthe observatory where it will behoused is of the general type that theRevd Phillips would have had at hishome in Headley, Surrey.

George Calver

Whilst we cannot claim a directconnection between Calver andPendrell Hall in his own day (helived in Great Yarmouth), our claimof connection is that we havealready restored two Victorianvintage Calver reflectors on site. Weexpect more Calver connections tomaterialise before the end of theproject.

In conclusion we can say that whenall phases of this project are

complete we shall have one of thefinest astronomical complexes inEngland: a site which will not onlyoffer excellent opportunities forastronomical observation with high-quality instruments, but also a sitewith considerable historicalconnections which will illuminateaspects of the background andhistory of astronomy in Britain.

We are still looking formiscellaneous ancillary instrumentsand period furniture to furnish theobservatories. We are particularlykeen to acquire Victorianmechanical regulator clocks of thesort that would have been used inVictorian observatories. We wouldwelcome any assistance that SHAmembers might be able to offer inlocating such items. The address ofthe Pendrell Hall ObservatoriesProject is Pendrell Hall, CodsallWood, South Staffordshire, WV81QP. The Project Director, JohnArmitage, can be contacted atObservatory House, 117,

Hednesford Road, Cannock,Staffordshire, WS11 6LB, telephone01543 579805.

Further reading

A paper on the astronomicalactivities of Lord John Wrottesley,Second Baron Wrottesley, is inpreparation and is scheduled toappear in the third volume of theAntiquarian Astronomer, due to bepublished towards the end of theyear.

Kevin Kilburn has recentlypublished two papers reporting onaspects of James Nasmyth’sastronomical activities (AntiquarianAstronomer, 2005, 2, pp37-50). Seealso the Newsletter no. 9, December2005, p9.

Further information on the BlackCountry Museum in Dudley isavailable from their Web site. SeeURL: http://www.bclm.co.uk/

More associated with the Moonlandings and probes into deep space,NASA produces a database that canbe useful to historians of astronomy.This database is the AstrophysicsData System (ADS). It is freelyavailable on the Web and thereforeaccessible to anyone with an Internetconnection. The master copy of thedatabase is at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysicsin Cambridge, Massachusetts, butthere are several copies around theworld. These copies (‘mirrors’ is thejargon) are kept up to date byupdates which run automaticallyevery night. The most convenientcopy for users in the UK is at theUniversity of Nottingham and itsURL is:http://ukads.nottingham.ac.uk/.

The ADS consists of records ofarticles, conference papers andbooks published in astronomy andsome related fields. The Astronomyand Astrophysics section of ADShas an incredible 1,119,873 items,

many of which contain links to thefull-text of the articles. Most of thecontent of ADS is highly technicaland of interest mostly toprofessional astronomers, however,a significant fraction of the contentis useful to historians.

As an example, I will demonstratehow historical research into the lifeof Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) can be assisted by ADS.

ADS has a search screen whichtakes a little practice to understand.It allows searching on a great manyfacets, not simply author and titleand it also allows combinationsearches where logical links can bemade between facets, for exampleauthor=Eddington ANDtitle=nebulae. Firstly we shall tryand retrieve a list of articles writtenby Eddington himself. To do this weenter ‘Eddington, A.S.’ in the authorfield and click the ‘Send Query’button. We are then faced with a listof 161 items, however we notice that

many are recent book reviews ofbooks by Eddington. If we want tocut these out we need to restrict thedates of publication to Eddington’slifetime, say those before 1950. Thisselection can be done simply byputting ‘1950’ in the second of thetwo publication date boxes: we nowhave a list of 134 articles byEddington (although there are still afew book reviews included). We cansee that Eddington’s last publishedarticle was on ‘The recession-constant of the galaxies’ andpublished in 1944. We can also findhis first publication, ‘Systematicmotions of the Stars’ of 1906.Obviously a careful study of this listwill give many clues to the subjectsand activities of Eddington, forexample we can find ‘The totaleclipse of 1919 May 29 and theinfluence of gravitation on light’published in The Observatory in1919.

ADS can also help with secondaryliterature: what have people written

On-line literature searches with the NASA ADSMark Hurn


about Eddington? To do this wehave a problem, we cannot simplyput ‘Eddington’ in the title field, ifwe do this we get the hundreds ofarticles which mention theEddington Limit or otherphenomena named after Eddington.There is no obvious way around thisproblem even if we use the filtersthat ADS provides at the bottom ofthe search screen and select onlythose journals which carry historicalarticles. Here we get a lot ofreferences to winners of theEddington Medal. However, to befair there are some useful referenceswithin the results and had I searchedfor a less distinguished name thanEddington the results might havebeen more relevant.

Looking at the journals indexed ontoADS we can spot its weaknesses,

whilst it covers Journal ofAstronomical History and Heritageand Journal for the History ofAstronomy, no general history ofscience journals are covered. Souseful articles in such journals asIsis or The British Journal for theHistory of Science would not befound.

ADS is certainly of great interest tohistorians of astronomy, however itdoes suffer from having a searchscreen primarily designed forprofessional astronomers, and fromhaving a coverage restricted toastronomical journals. I dorecommend ADS to anyoneresearching astronomical history asit may, if used carefully, provideinteresting results.

Thanks to Nick Kollerstrom whosuggested I write this article.

[Note: the coverage of the ADSextends back further than thetwentieth century and much materialwhich is itself historical is nowincluded. I believe that the ADS aimis to index the journals covered backto their first volume. The firstAstronomische Nachrichten waspublished in 1821 and the earliestRAS Monthly Notices appeared afew years later. Some astronomicalmaterial from the Royal Society’sPhilosophical Transactions is alsoincluded. For example, try entering‘Herschel, J.’ into the author field(this works best if you set the secondof the two publication date boxes to,say, 1875), or, even moreimpressively, ‘Herschel, W.’. – Ed.]

Dr William Doberck

Professor Kevin MacKeown of theUniversity of Hong Kong iscurrently researching WilliamDoberck (1852-1941). The outlineof Dr Doberck’s career isestablished, but ProfessorMacKeown would appreciatecontact from anyone who canprovide additional details.

Doberck was born in Copenhagenand for some years worked at MrCooper’s Observatory at MarkreeCastle (1875 to 1883), Co Sligo. Hethen applied for and was appointedHM Government’s first Director ofthe newly built Royal ObservatoryHong Kong (now the Hong KongObservatory). Doberck was to rulethe establishment until hisretirement in 1907. During histenure he oversaw a transition froman institution performingmeteorological, astronomical andmagnetic observations to a purely

meteorological observatory, in linewith the changing needs of anexpanding British colony whollydependent on maritime activity andever exposed to the threat oftyphoons. His ‘crusty’characteristics anddomineering attitudetowards his staff madefor an often-fieryrelationship with hisseniors in the ColonialService. However, heoversaw the previouslymentioned transition withgreat skill and today’smeteorologicalobservatory in HongKong enjoys a highreputation. During histime in Hong Kong Doberckproduced an extensive series ofastronomical publications, mostly inthe field of double stars.

Upon retirement, Doberck settled atSutton, Surrey and set up his ownastronomical observatory in hisgarden. This observatory wasdescribed by him in the MonthlyNotices of the Royal AstronomicalSociety (1909, 69, p281) and wasequipped with a seven-inch refractorby Thomas Cooke and Sons, housedwithin a prefabricated domesupplied by the Berthon Boat

Company of Romsey, Hants.Doberck also obtained a $250 grantfrom Harvard College to fund thepurchase of a position micrometerfor double star observations. Duringhis retirement Doberck continued to

regularly publish doublestar observations until1935. Most of his workappeared in the

AstronomischeNachrichten exceptduring and shortly afterthe Great War when hepublished in English-and French-languagejournals. Any additionalinformation would beappreciated. ProfessorMacKeown can be

contacted via e-mail([email protected]) orthrough the Newsletter (contactdetails on the back page).

Further information on the HongKong Observatory is available fromits Web site (see URL:http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm) or its Wikipedia entry (see URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Observatory).

Kenneth Goward,Tuddenham St Martin, Suffolk.

Dr William Doberck(1852-1941)


Important manuscripts which throwlight on the early history of theRoyal Society and the work ofRobert Hooke (1635-1703), its firstCurator of Instruments, have beenfound. The documents werediscovered by accident during aroutine evaluation of a house inHampshire by the auctioneersBonhams of New Bond Street.

The manuscripts comprise Hooke’spersonal copies of the minutes ofmeetings of the Royal Society forseveral decades from 1661. Thereare two sets of manuscripts. Thefirst, covering the period 1661-1677,consists of ‘fair copies’ of theminutes with (sometimes acerbic)comments inserted by Hooke. In1677 Hooke succeeded the recentlydeceased Henry Oldenburg (1618-

1677) to become theRoyal Society’s secondSecretary. The second setof manuscripts datesfrom after thisappointment and consistsof Hooke’s own roughnotes of the Society’smeetings.

The manuscriptscomprise a little over fivehundred pages. Theythrow important newlight on a number of the importantscientific issues of the time,including early work onmicroscopes and accurate watches,and the development of the theory ofuniversal gravitation. The oftenirascible Hooke was heavilyinvolved in all these developmentsand became embroiled in a numberof priority disputes which hitherto ithas been impossible to disentanglesatisfactorily.

The manuscripts are to be auctionedby Bonhams on 28 March (thisauction may well have happened bythe time this Newsletter reaches you)and are expected to fetch over £1million. The Royal Society cannotafford to buy them, but it hasappealed for a ‘white knight’ topurchase them, who would allowthem to be made available toscholars. Also, an emergency

application for National Lotteryfunding is being investigated, forwhich it is important to demonstrateexternal support. Assuming that theauction date has not passed, offers ofeven modest financial assistance inthis regard could be helpful, forexample, perhaps an offer to pledgea few pounds a month for severalyears. Several SHA Councillorshave made such a commitment. Ifyou can help please contact KeithMoore (020 7451 2606 [email protected]) the RSLibrarian.

Further reading

Royal Society press release:http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news.asp?id=4144

The particulars issued by Bonhamsare available on their Web site:http://www.bonhams.com/

Barbara Slater, The Astronomer ofRousdon, Charles Grover 1842-1921. Paperback, Steam MillPublishing in association withCourseware Publications, Bury StEdmunds, 2005, ISBN 1-898-737-30-4, £9.94, pp 276, b/willustrations.

Over the past few decades, the studyof the history of astronomy has beenchanging. It has moved away fromthe study of ‘great astronomers’(though such studies undoubtedlyhave their place in the literature)

towards the broader cultural contextof the science. And implicit withinthis tendency has been the study offigures who, while not making anyrevolutionary discoveries,nonetheless played a valuable role inthe advancement of astronomy intheir day. Charles Grover, the self-taught Assistant Astronomer of theRousdon Observatory in southDevon, and his Grand Amateuremployer, Sir Cuthbert Peek, werecharacteristic figures in the widerworld of self-funded Victorianastronomy.

Book reviews

Early Royal Society manuscripts foundClive Davenhall

The rediscovered manuscripts of early RoyalSociety meetings

No portrait of Robert Hooke (1635-1703) has been definitely identified.

This painting is often thought to showhim, but the identification is not

universally accepted


Barbara Slater has opened up afascinating world in telling the storyof Charles Grover: indeed, it is asuccess story of patience, study,hard work, and loyalty. Traits, alas,that are sneered at in our ownrudderless ‘post-modern’ society.Yet here we have an engrossingVictorian tale of an apprenticevillage brushmaker who, bydedicated self-education, goodmanners, shrewd common sense,and a cheerful disposition, rose to aposition which his boyhoodcontemporaries at Chesham,Buckinghamshire, would havedeemed unimaginable.

It never ceases to interest me what itis that inspires people: especiallythose whose formative years arehedged in by a lack of botheducation and opportunity, whileenduring the grind of a soul-destroying routine job. Yet history isfull of such people, and CharlesGrover was one of them. In theautobiographical narrative, writtenin 1908, which forms the backboneof the present book, Grover tells ushow he acquired a youthfulfascination with the heavens afterseeing Donati’s Comet in 1858,scraped his shillings together to buya succession of small telescopes,obtained books (we are not quitesure whether he bought or was ableto borrow them), and began ajournal of observations when he wasin his late teens. And all this time,he was earning his living by makingbrushes, which occupation seems tohave been the dominant cottageindustry of his village. Yet even as ateenager Charles was clearly able toimpress people, for two of his earlyencouragers were none other than DrJohn Lee, FRS, the wealthy GrandAmateur of Hartwell House, nearAylesbury, some dozen miles fromChesham, who entertained youngGrover on visits to his mansion andobservatory, and the Revd T.W.Webb, who was the most eminentastronomical populariser of the day.

But Charles Grover’s first greatbreak came in 1869, when hisobvious talents led to his beingoffered a job by John Browning, the

London telescope and scientificinstrument maker. At Browning’sworks Grover tested equipment and,very crucially for his futureadvancement, was sent to all parts ofthe country to assist Grand Amateurastronomers in setting up, adjusting,and obtaining the optimum usage ofthe fine refractors and reflectorswhich they had purchased throughBrowning. And like WilliamHerschel, the German armybandsman of a century before,whose adroit social sense soonenabled him to develop friendly andeasy personal relations with his‘betters’ so Grover came to enjoyvisiting the observatories and homesof baronets, cathedral dignitaries,rich businessmen and such, as hetaught them how to use their newlarge telescopes to best advantage.Through these men, he began anenduring connection with the GrandAmateur world, and with the RoyalAstronomical Society, and wasoffered the second chance of hislifetime in 1882. For in that yearCuthbert Peek (whose ample fortunederived in part from the Peek, Freanbiscuit factory) planned ontravelling to Australia to observe thetransit of Venus with a fine 6.4-inch-aperture equatorial refractor, andoffered Grover the post of Assistant.Though they were clouded out onthe transit day itself, Grover’s (andPeek’s) accounts of life and travelsin Australia in 1882-3 are riveting inthemselves. And upon their return toEngland, Peek turned his refractorinto the centrepiece of the newobservatory which he set up on hisfather Sir Henry’s estate at Rousdon,near Lyme Regis, Devonshire.Charles Grover, his wife Elizabeth,and his son George now came toreside in a comfortable house on theRousdon estate, where he directedthe astronomical and meteorologicalobservatories, and curated the Peekfamily’s museum in the adjacentmansion.

Rousdon seems to have been awonderful place. It was a ‘model’estate owned and run by a generousand public-spirited family, andCharles appears to have been free toundertake whatever researches he

chose. Knowing the heavens in bothhemispheres like the back of hishand by 1884, and being fullyconversant with contemporaryastronomical literature, and withwhat could best be done with theoptical resources at his disposal, hebegan an original study of variablestars, along with the micrometricmeasurement of many double stars.And while the observations werepublished under Peek’s own name(as was the accepted custom inGrand Amateur observatories),Grover was acknowledged as theman who had done the work.

To look at the reproducedphotographs of the elderly Charlesand Elizabeth Grover, they seemindistinguishable from any othersuccessful middle-class couple ofthe Edwardian age. Charlesespecially looks confident andsecure, and both husband and wifewear good-quality clothes, and haveclearly ‘made it’. Yet part of CharlesGrover’s success lay in his astuterecognition of precisely where hestood on the social scale. No, hewasn’t in the same league as theAstronomer Royal, or theprofessorial director of a universityobservatory. He was a veryprivileged upper servant to a richemployer: like the chief clerk in afirm of fashionable solicitors, anestate steward, or the salariedmanager of another man’s factory. Itwas a position demanding education(even if self-acquired), real brains,good manners, tact, and the abilityto move easily in polite societywhile not quite fully being amember of that society. He was an‘astronomer’s gentleman’. Rousdon,however, clearly became the happyhome of the Grover family from1883 until Charles’s death (and thenof Elizabeth down to her death in1927). And knowing that world verywell, Charles seems to haveentertained no higher aspirations: atrait which he shared with manyother men across the British Isleswhom Grand Amateur astronomyhad lifted from a life of dull povertyinto one of modest gentility, andwho counted their lucky stars, in


more than a purely astronomicalsense.

Reading The Astronomer ofRousdon one encounters a veritable‘Who’s Who’ of late Victorianastronomy, and for this reason Iwish that the book had beensupplied with an index – a detailedindex. As it is, one is left searchingthrough pages retrospectively, tryingto locate where one encountered thisor that name or thing. And though inher bibliography Barbara Slateracknowledges the invaluablehistorical researches of Charles’sdescendant Jerry Grover (himself anSHA member who spoke on CharlesGrover at the recent AutumnConference; see the report in theDecember 2005 Newsletter, 9, p8)in locating manuscript notebooksand letters, and securing theirdeposit in the archives of theScience Museum, London, it wouldhave been a help if these documentshad been cited as precise notes andreferences, with full manuscripttitles and archive numbers. Asthings stand, one is left in the airwith numerous golden nuggets ofinformation which cannot, frommaterial contained in the book, beproperly pinned down archivally. Itwould also have been useful, if thefacts are available, to know howmuch Charles Grover was beingpaid by Browning and by Peek, sothat one could ‘place’ him, salarywise, alongside his fellow assistantsat the Grand Amateur, Greenwich,and university observatories.

Bibliographical matters apart,however, I feel that Barbara Slaterhas done an excellent job in bringingCharles Grover, his world, and hisachievements into the light of dayand making him a real historicalpresence. The book is well andclearly written, and is a fascinatingread.

Allan Chapman

Bartholomew, Robert and Evans,Hilary, Panic Attacks – MediaManipulation and Mass Delusion.Hardback, Sutton Publishing,Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2004, ISBN0-7509-3785-8, £20.00, pp 222 + xv.

At the front of Panic Attacks there isa quotation from James Thurber tothe effect that ‘you can fool toomany of the people too much of thetime.’ This dictum might stand as asummary of the book, whichdescribes some of the hoaxes,misinformation and imaginary orexaggerated threats with which themass media have deliberately orunwittingly misled the public. Itmight seem odd to review such abook in the SHA Newsletter.However, the first four chapterscover astronomical stories: the greatMoon Hoax of 1835, the Halley’sComet scare of 1910 and twochapters on Orson Welles’ 1938broadcast of the War of the Worldsand its subsequent imitations. Thisreview will concentrate on thisastronomical material.

The Great Moon Hoax occurred in1835, right at the start of tabloidjournalism. It was perpetrated byBenjamin Day, publisher of the NewYork Sun and Richard AdamsLocke, one of his journalists. TheSun was a cheap ‘penny’ newspaperaimed at a mass-market of mostlypoorly-educated immigrants, and it

was engaged in a circulation warwith other tabloids.

The hoax took the form of a seriesof articles that appeared in the Sunbetween 25 - 31 August 1835. At thetime of the hoax Sir John Herschelwas in South Africa surveying thesouthern sky (see p6). The articlestook the form of extracts frompapers submitted by Sir John to theEdinburgh Journal of Science, butwith the more technical detailsomitted for a mass-circulationnewspaper. The reports were, ofcourse, fakes and almost certainlywritten by Locke. Indeed, by 1835the Edinburgh Journal of Sciencehad ceased publication. The reportsstarted in a realistic anduncontroversial manner, seeminglywell-grounded in technical detail,and became increasingly outlandishas the series progressed. Thistechnique is well-known to authorsof fantastic literature; M.R. James,the writer of classic ghost stories, forexample, was a master of it. Thefirst article described, in convincingdetail, improvements that Sir Johnhad made to his telescope whichallowed him to observe the Moon inunprecedented detail. Subsequentarticles described the observations,which revealed not merely that theMoon was inhabited by numerousand exotic species of flora andfauna, but that it was also the homeof intelligent beaver-people and bat-men. The articles caused a sensationwhen they appeared and werewidely believed. The series came toan abrupt halt on 31 August when itwas reported that observations hadbeen temporarily suspended due tothe apparatus being damaged by fire(yes, that old plot device), though bythis stage their authenticity wasbeing questioned.

Chapter Two describes the Halley’sComet scare of 1910 (see also thearticle by Bruce Harper, pp10-12).During the 1910 apparition ofComet Halley the Earth passedthrough the comet’s tail and therewas concern that life would bewiped out due to the terrestrialatmosphere being contaminated withpoisonous gases. The prehistory of


the scare really goes back to 1881when Sir William Huggins, thepioneer of astronomicalspectroscopy, discovered thepoisonous gas cyanogen in the tailof a comet. Initially the approach ofComet Halley was viewed withoutundue concern. However, thatchanged on the morning of 7February 1910 when the normallystaid and reliable New York Timespublished on its front page asensational and alarmist report thatastronomers at the YerkesObservatory in Chicago haddetected cyanogen in the tail ofHalley’s Comet, through which theEarth would shortly pass. The reportcontinued that the discovery hadbeen communicated to astronomersthroughout the world and there wasmuch concern. Camille Flammarion,the French populariser of astronomy,in particular, was alarmed.

In fact the astronomical communitysoon appreciated that there was nodanger (Flammarion was one of thefew who continued to expressconcern) and the scare received littlecredibility in the scientific press.However, once started, scare storiescontinued to appear in newspapersand reassurances were not alwayseffective. For example, the Directorof the Meudon Observatory, whilstinsisting that the comet posed nothreat, unfortunately added that thetail contained ‘enormous quantitiesof cyanogen,’ which is true enough,but was not the thing to tell a non-astronomical journalist. Once theidea of death and destruction fromthe comet was implanted, ingeniousauthors and editors came up withincreasingly exotic and bizarrescenarios. Perhaps my favourite isthat contact with the tail wouldcause the nitrogen and oxygen in theterrestrial atmosphere to combine toform nitrous oxide or laughing gas,and the human race would literallydie laughing. ‘This species hasamused itself to death,’ as RogerWaters once wrote.

The response to the scare variedenormously from person to personand between countries and regions.In places there was considerable

alarm, but in others virtually none,as Bruce Harper reports was the casein Ipswich, Queensland. In theevent, and entirely predictably, inmid-May 1910 the Earth passedthrough the tail with no trace ofharm.

The most famous of theastronomical scares covered is thepanic caused by the broadcast ofOrson Welles’ 1938 adaptation ofthe War of the Worlds. There aretwo chapters on this panic, onecovering the original broadcast andthe other subsequent, similarbroadcasts. The story of Welles’broadcast is well-known. On theevening of 30 October 1938 OrsonWelles’ Mercury Theater of the Airbroadcast an updated version ofH.G. Wells’ 1899 novel the War ofthe Worlds in which invadingMartians landed at Grovers Mill,New Jersey. Many listeners mistookthe programme for news bulletinsreporting real events andconsiderable panic ensued.

One reason for the effectiveness ofthe broadcast was that it played onthe unease of a population alreadyjittery as Europe slid towards war.At least one listener thought that theMartians were really Germans indisguise. Also, whilst some paniccertainly occurred it seems that thenewspapers deliberately exaggerated

it in their reports, in part becausethey wanted to discredit the upstartmedium of radio, with which theywere competing for advertisingrevenue.

Subsequently there have beenseveral similar broadcasts, usuallyadapted from the same novelstrangely enough, and some havecaused greater panic. In Ecuador in1949 twenty people were killed inriots which broke out when listenersrealised that they had been hoaxedand attacked the offices of theoffending radio station. The riotswere more serious than they wouldotherwise have been because thepolice reserves who would normallyhave contained them had been (youguessed it) dispatched to thesupposed landing site to help repelthe invaders. There is a postscript tothe War of the Worlds story. On 6December 1941 a live broadcast of apoetry recital by Orson Welles wasinterrupted by a news bulletinannouncing that the Japanese hadattacked Pearl Harbor. Needless tosay it was widely disbelieved.

The remaining chapters coversimilar but non-astronomical scares,from satanic ritual abuse andillusory terrorists to mad cows, andwith even a mention of the BBC’snotorious Ghostwatch of 1992. Thefinal chapter discusses how to

A contemporary engraving illustrating articles from the New York Sun’s Moon hoaxof 1835. It depicts the lunar bat-men and beaver-people allegedly revealed by Sir

John Herschel’s observations from South Africa (courtesy of the Mary EvansPicture Library)


protect against disinformation by themass media.

Robert Bartholomew previouslytaught sociology at James CookUniversity and Hilary Evans isDirector of the Mary Evans PictureLibrary and a member of the Societyfor Psychical Research. Both havewritten extensively on hoaxes andunusual phenomena. Their book iswell-written and well-produced andI spotted only a few slips. Prof.Andrew Cromelin was an employeeof the Royal ObservatoryGreenwich, not the ‘University ofGreenwich’ (p24) and I suspect thatthe Martian invaders should havebeen ‘repelled’ rather than

‘repealed’ (p58). The book has anAmerican emphasis and is aimed ata lay audience, though it hasextensive references. There are afew well-chosen black-and-whiteillustrations, which would beotherwise difficult to find, andwhich are reproduced on good-quality glossy paper (one isreproduced on p19 and another onp11, bottom right). In the context ofthe history of astronomy the bookcan be recommended for itscoverage of the Sun’s Moon hoaxand the 1910 Comet Halley scare,descriptions of which are otherwisehard to come by, though there isanother recent account of the Moonhoax in Steven Ruskin’s (2004)

account of Sir John Herschel’s tripto the Cape. The chapters on theWar of the Worlds panics are alsointeresting, though this material isperhaps more familiar. However,these astronomical chapters occupyonly 71 out 187 pages. Whether therest of the material appeals willdepend on your interests.

Clive Davenhall

Reference

Steven Ruskin, 2004, JohnHerschel’s Cape Voyage. PrivateScience, Public Imagination and theAmbitions of Empire (Ashgate:Aldershot). See pp94-100.

This column lists some recentlypublished books that might be ofinterest. Listing here does notpreclude a review at a later date.Please note prices may varyaccording to suppliers.

Frova, A. and Marenzana, M. (trans.J.H. McManus). Thus Spake

Galileo: the Great Scientist’s Ideasand their Relevance to the PresentDay. Oxford University Press, 2006,hardback, ISBN 0198566255,£19.99.

Glass, I. Revolutionaries of theCosmos: the Astrophysicists. OxfordUniv. Press, 2005, ISBN198570996, £35.00.

Mohr, P. John Birmingham, Esq:Tuam and Ireland’s New Star.Millbrook Nova Press, 2002,hardback, ISBN 095431770X,£22.50.

Sterken, C. and Duerbeck, H.W.(eds). Astronomical Heritages:

Astronomical Archives and HistoricTransits of Venus. C. Sterken, VrijeUniversiteit Brussel, 2005,paperback, ISBN 9080553867,€37.00 (about £26; inc. airmailpostage).

Vollmann, W.T. Uncentering theEarth: Copernicus and ‘TheRevolution of the HeavenlySpheres’. Norton, 2006, hardback,ISBN 0393059693, $(US)22.95.

Yourgrau, P.A. World WithoutTime: the Forgotten Legacy ofGodel and Einstein. Allen Lane,2005, ISBN 0713993871, £20.00.

Since the last report all pre-1986stock has been transferred to the SirRobert Ball Library at theBirmingham & Midland Institute. Asmall loan collection is being set upthere. All post-1986 stock remainsin the Sir Patrick Moore LendingLibrary and is available for loan. Toborrow items contact the Librarian,Madeline Cox, 4, Rutland Close,Warsop, Mansfield, Notts NG200DY ([email protected]).

In addition to the items transferred,there have also been a significantnumber of donations (see below).Consequently a stock-take is beingundertaken. The first part iscomplete, but a second session willbe held later in the year. We aregrateful to (in alphabetical order):Peter Hingley, Les Jepson, RogerJones, Dorothy Malpass and MartinLunn for either helping with thisstock-take or transferring books to

the BMI. Additional donations ofmagazines and journals areanticipated in the first half of 2006.

Library catalogue

In view of the recent developments,it has been decided to split thecatalogue into separate sections: theSir Robert Ball Reference Library,the Stuart Williams ReferenceCollection, and the Sir Patrick

Books noticedMadeline Cox

Library newsMadeline Cox and Stuart Williams


Moore Lending Library. Thecatalogue can still be found on ourWeb site at www.shastro.org.uk. Ifyou would like a printed copy,please send an SAE to MadelineCox (contact details above).

Sir Robert Ball Library

In addition to the new stock, asecond computer has been installed,an Apple iMac G4. It will enableexpansion of the SRB Library’swork and, in particular, the use of aseries of indexed DVD’s of TheEnglish Mechanic (generouslydonated by the producer, SHAmember Eric Hutton) for researchpurposes. The computer is on along-term loan from StuartWilliams.

Donations

A considerable number of donationshave been received; too many to listindividually. We thank the followingindividuals who have kindlycontributed (in alphabetical order):Madeline Cox, Clive Davenhall,Peter Grego, Mark Hurn, NigelLongshaw, Paul Mohr and StuartWilliams.

Also, the Library has received asignificant number of volumesfollowing the dispersal of theLibrary of the late Dr Jon Darius.These accessions were madepossible due to the generosity of DrDarius’ widow and were facilitatedby the Science Museum and PeterHingley.

Finally, we have catalogued a largenumber of surplus volumes receiveda while ago from the RoyalObservatory Edinburgh, for whichwe are grateful to Karen Moran, theROE Librarian. Many are inEuropean languages. The Societythanks all our donors, whosegenerosity is much appreciated.

In all cases you should checkavailability before visiting and bringyour SHA membership card foridentification.

SHA Sir Robert Ball Library

For the remainder of 2006 the SirRobert Ball Library will be open onselected Saturdays only, as listedbelow. On these days the openinghours will be 10:30 am – 12:00

noon, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm(closed for lunch noon –1:00 pm). Please note thatthe Library will not be openon Mondays during 2006.

25 March, 29 April, 27May, 24 June, 22 July, 19August, 30 September, 28October, 25 November*, 9December.

* – On 25 November theLibrary will close at 12:00noon because in the

afternoon it will be used for an SHACouncil meeting.

The Library is located at theBirmingham & Midland Institute, 9,Margaret Street, Birmingham, B33BS. BMI Web site:www.bmi.org.uk. You are stronglyadvised to check that the Library isopen before visiting to avoiddisappointment. Contact StuartWilliams, telephone 07906 103735during opening hours only. Anyenquiries, please write with SAE to:SHA, 26, Matlock Road, Bloxwich,Walsall, West Midlands, WS3 3QDor by email to:[email protected]

Sir David Gill’s History and Description of the Cape Observatory (1913). The Societyhas acquired a copy of this rare and important volume as a result of the dispersal ofthe library of the late Dr Jon Darius. The copy in the Society’s Library was previouslythe RAS copy; the RAS now has the copy from Dr Darius’ collection. Strictly it is thecurrent RAS copy which is shown here (courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society)

The Birmingham & Midland Institute

Library Opening Times


RAS Library

The RAS Library is open duringoffice hours, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm,Monday to Friday. In addition it willbe open on the first Saturday ofevery month, 9:30 – 5:30. It willalso stay open until 6:00 pm on thenights of BAA London Wednesdaymeetings and, if the BAA arrangesany London Saturday meetings, itwill attempt to cover those as well.Therefore the planned Saturdayopenings until the end of 2006 willbe:

1 April, 6 May, 3 June, 1 July, 5August, 2 September, 7 October, 4November, 2 December.

It is essential to contact theLibrarian in advance if any rare or

older book material, archives, andespecially older journals, arerequired during these extendedopenings as some of these itemsmay be in another building which isnot accessible on Saturdays. Thefront door to the RAS premises islocked on Saturdays, so visitorsmust ring the bell and wait to be letin. Unfortunately, it is difficult tohear the bell from the Librarian’soffice. Please ring his mobiletelephone (below) in case ofdifficulty. Finally, please note thatthe continuation of the extendedopenings for 2006 is an experimentintended to benefit amateurastronomers and historians, such asSHA members, and will only becontinued if sufficient readers usethe Library on these days to make itworth while; so use it or lose it!

Contact Peter Hingley (020-7734 -4582, ext. 215; mobile: 07757133891 or [email protected]).

On-line catalogue:http://ras.heritage4.com

ROE Library

The ROE Library is usually openduring office hours, Monday toFriday. Contact Karen Moran (0131-668-8395 or [email protected]).

On-line catalogue:http://www.roe.ac.uk/roe/library/index.html and follow the links:‘Search the Main Library Catalogue’and ‘ROE Catalogue’.

The RAS premises in Burlington House are to becompletely refurbished in order to provide greatlyimproved facilities for Fellows and staff. Theimprovements will include the reintroduction of ameeting room and the installation of a lift. A particularbenefit for the Library will be the provision ofenvironmentally controlled storage for the Rare Booksand Archives.

However, the work will cause considerable disruption.The details have still to be worked out, but it is likelythat the Library will close late in 2006 for an extendedperiod of at least a year. The whole collection in themain part of Burlington House will be moved out intostorage sometime late in 2006. During this time the staffwill do their best to provide a restricted service on a‘request in advance’ basis but this will inevitably be slowand inconvenient.

The overall message is that if you wish to use the RAScollections you should do so before the autumn of 2006,if at all possible. Further details will be announced asthey become known.

The following is a preliminary list of forthcomingmeetings and events to be held during 2006. Booking isnecessary unless noted otherwise. Except where notedthe events are organised by the SHA. The details of non-SHA events are checked as far as possible but cannot beguaranteed. Items for inclusion in this list in future issues

of the Newsletter are welcome. They should be sent tothe editorial address given on the back page.

Thr. 1 Dec. (2005) to Fri. 16 Jun. The Library of theRoyal Society is currently presenting a small exhibitionof historical astronomical material to celebrate the recent

RAS Library closurePeter Hingley

Forthcoming meetings and eventsClive Davenhall


BooksNEW ASTRONOMY BOOKSAT DISCOUNTED PRICES

ANDSECONDHAND ASTRONOMY BOOKS

Martin Lunn MBE6 Evelyn Crescent

CliftonYork

YO3O 6DRTEL/FAX 01904 337989

www.aurora-books-uk.co.ukE-mail: [email protected]

appointment of Lord Rees of Ludlow, the AstronomerRoyal, as its President. See:http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=3970. Admissionfree. The Library is open to the public 10:00am -5:00pm, Mon. to Fri. Visitors need to register as Libraryreaders; the procedure is simple but some picture ID(passport, driving licence etc.) is required. Details at:http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1647. The RoyalSociety, 6-9, Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y5AG (020 7451 2500) (non-SHA event).

Mon. 3 to Fri. 7 Apr. NAM 2006. National AstronomyMeeting organised by the RAS and PPARC. To be heldat the University of Leicester. An historical session willbe held on 11.00am-12.30pm, Thursday, 6 April.Admission £70 (for the day); advance registrationnecessary. See http://www.nam2006.le.ac.uk/index.shtmlor contact Peter Hingley (details overleaf) (non-SHAevent).

Thr. 6 to Mon. 10 Apr. Ancient Watching at CosmicSpace and Astronomical Phenomenon.Archaeoastronomy conference organised by the SociétéEuropéene pour L’Astronomie dans la Culture (SEAC)and the Laboratory of Archaeometry, Dept. ofMediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean.Registration €430 with accommodation, €130 without.See: http://www.rhodes.aegean.gr/tms/SEAC2006.htm(non-SHA event).

Fri. 12 to Sun. 14 May. The Worlds of Oronce Fine:Mathematics, Instruments, and The Book in RenaissanceFrance. A conference on the French mathematicianOronce Fine (1491-1555) who also wrote on astronomy,amongst other subjects. To be held at the University of StAndrews. Registration £40 (before 31 March). Seehttp://www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/conference-marr-oroncefine.html or contact: Alexander Marr([email protected]), School of ArtHistory, University of St Andrews, 9, The Scores, StAndrews, Fife, KY16 9AR (non-SHA event).

Sat. 20 May. SHA Annual General Meeting and SpringConference: Women in Astronomy. To be held at theInstitute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. Thedraft programme features a welcome by Dr DavidDewhirst, with Madeline Cox, Tony Kinder and MaryBrück as the main speakers. Further information shouldbe enclosed with this Newsletter.

Sat. 8 July. SHA Summer Picnic. By kind invitation, tobe held at ‘Farthings’, Selsey, West Sussex, the homeand observatory of Sir Patrick Moore. Admission will beby prior booked ticket only.

Mon. 14 to Sat. 25 Aug. IAU General Assembly XXVI.To be held in Prague. IAU Commission 41 (History ofAstronomy) will be organising sessions as part of thismeeting. See: http://www.astronomy2006.com/ (non-SHA event).

Sat. 7 Oct. SHA Autumn Conference: Instruments andImaging. To be held at the BMI. Any appropriate topicfrom earliest times to the present day may be included.Initial offers of papers from members, including a shortabstract and suggested length (twenty, thirty or sixtyminutes including question time) as well as audio-visualrequirements, are welcome by post only, with SAE to theSecretary, Stuart Williams, 26, Matlock Road, Bloxwich,WS3 3QD.

Details of additional forthcoming internationalconferences are included in Wolfgang Dick’s ElectronicNewsletter for the History of Astronomy. An archive isavailable at URL: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/aa/enha/.

Oronce Fine (1491-1555), whose work will bediscussed in St Andrews over the weekend of

12-14 May


The Society for the History of Astronomy extends a verywarm welcome to the following members who haverecently joined the Society:

Dr Wayne Orchiston of the James Cook University,Queensland, Australia.Mr William R. Airy of Wimbledon, London.Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS of Potters Bank, Durham.Mr Adam Jared Apt of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

We also welcome the Science Museum Library to ourInstitutional memberships.

If you have not renewed your subscription for 2006 yourmembership will lapse at the end of March. ThisNewsletter will certainly be the last publication, andprobably the last communication, that you will receivefrom the Society. Please renew if you wish to continue toenjoy the benefits of membership. A renewal form wasenclosed with the December Newsletter, but brieflyOrdinary Membership costs £22.50 per annum, chequesshould be made payable to the ‘Society for the History ofAstronomy’ and sent to the Secretary, Stuart Williams,(details opposite), not the Treasurer (see below).

We are sad to report that Ken Goward’s long-standingmedical problems have recently worsened, resulting inhis hospitalisation. He is likely to be out of action for anextended period. Because Ken is the Society’s Treasurer,and handles membership matters, the procedure forsubmitting membership renewals and applications haschanged slightly (see above) and there are likely to bedelays. We apologise and hope that you can bear with us.We extend every best wish to Ken and his family.

Guidelines for submitting articles and letters to theNewsletter were included in a previous issue (No. 7, June2005) and are available from the Society’s Web site.

Articles, letters and Newsletter inquiries should be sentto Clive Davenhall. For electronic contributions the e-mail address is: [email protected]. For papercontributions see the box opposite.

Newsletter submissions

New members

Subscription reminder

The deadline for the next edition of the Newsletter isthe 1st of May 2006.

Kenneth Goward

Council and Officers

Hon President:Dr Allan Chapman

Hon Vice Presidents:Dr Michael HoskinSir Patrick Moore CBE FRS

Chairman:Gilbert Satterthwaite FRAS([email protected])

Secretary:Stuart Williams FRAS26 Matlock Road, Bloxwich, Walsall, WS3 3QD([email protected])

Treasurer:Kenneth J. Goward, FRAS,14 Keightley Way, Tuddenham St Martin,Ipswich, Suffolk, IP6 9BJ([email protected])

Council MembersWilliam Barton ([email protected])

Madeline Cox ([email protected])

Peter Hingley ([email protected])

Mark Hurn ([email protected])

Roger Jones ([email protected])

Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom ([email protected])

Martin Lunn MBE ([email protected])

Dr Reginald Withey ([email protected])

Editor, The Antiquarian AstronomerDr W R WitheyEditor, The Antiquarian Astronomer16 Lennox CloseGosport PO12 2UJ([email protected])

Assistant Editor, The Antiquarian AstronomerKevin Johnson ([email protected])

Newsletter correspondence to:Clive Davenhall,30, Millar Crescent,Morningside,Edinburgh, EH10 5HH([email protected])

LibrarianMadeline Cox ([email protected])

ArchivistMark Hurn ([email protected])

Website ManagerGreg Smye-Rumsby,([email protected])

General communications to the Society should bedirected to the Secretary in the first instance.

SHA Website:http://www.shastro.org.uk

on the trail of comets - society for the history of astronomy | shedding light on the history of...

Documents