Royal Observatory, Greenwich

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A Personal Note (Archive)

July 21st 2009 sees the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. Some articles I've read recently have suggested that this isn't really a worthwhile milestone to celebrate. It is pointed out, for example, that the motivation for the Apollo programme was to demonstrate American technological superiority during the Cold War. The noble spirit of adventure took second place. But hasn't it always been this way? Explorers setting off for distant lands in the past did not do so simply out of a sense of adventure. James Cook, for example, was a captain in the Royal Navy, and his voyages of exploration were designed to aid the expansion of British power overseas. Space exploration has another parallel with sea voyages in the way competition for power at sea led to huge efforts in astronomy. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich was founded in 1675 by Charles the Second. The aim of the observatory was to study the stars, as a means of improving navigation at sea. The challenge was to calculate longitude, positions east and west, while at sea and out of sight of land. The observatory's work was to track the moon and the stars, and to eventually publish a record of where the moon would be in relation to the stars on any given day. The moon's position at set times, in relation to set stars, could then be used to calculate a ship's position. A country whose ships could navigate accurately at sea would have a huge military advantage, and Britain wanted this. The same motivations that drove people to build the Royal Observatory and look at the moon, also had them landing on it.

Best wishes

Martin

Anniversaries for July

1st July 1916: First day of the Battle of the Somme during the First World War. Over 19,000 British soldiers are killed.

6th July 1189 : King Henry II dies at Chinon, and is succeeded by his son Richard the Lionheart.

7th July 1834: Jane Austen moves with her sister to Chawton in Hampshire. She was to write Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion here.

13th July 1239: Captain Cook sets sail in HMS Resolution from Plymouth. Among the crew was astronomer William Wales who was given the mission of testing marine clocks. These clocks were designed to allow accurate calculation of a ship's position at sea.

21st July 1969 : Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin become the first men to set foot on the moon.

Month of July 1835: Charles Darwin, continuing his voyage on HMS Beagle, is studying landforms in the vicinity of Lima, Peru. He sees ancient beaches lifted high above their original level beside the sea. Soon he will set sail across the Pacific towards the Galapagos.

Historical news for July

On 11th July the 800th anniversary of the first London Bridge built from stone will be celebrated. The bridge will be closed to make way for a day of medieval themed entertainments. Entry is free.

The Science Museum is celebrating the International Year of Astronomy, Cosmos and Culture with an exhibition examining how humans have examined the universe over the last thousand years. The exhibition will include examples of the earliest seventeenth century telescopes, and part of a eighteenth century observatory from India.

February was the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and events run all year to commemorate this. Details for the biggest events are available below:

For more details about the Cambridge Festival go to http://www.darwin2009.cam.ac.uk/

For Bath events go to http://www.brlsi.org/darwin2009/

For Shrewsbury events go to http://www.discoverdarwin.co.uk/

Hundreds of art works related to the work of Charles Darwin will be on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 6th June - 4th October. Ring 01223 332900.

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Thank you to photo contributors Danielle Davis, Jean Edwards, Vicky Eagle of Portsmouth Dockyard, Kevin Edwards, Julian Jones, Richard Jones, Jackie Lewis, Debbie Lowless, Judy Mills of the Corinium Museum, and Susan Stuart of Old Spitalfields Market