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MASKELYNE, NEVIL (1732-1811)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 838 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MASKELYNE, NEVIL (1732-1811) , See also:English astronomer-royal, was See also:born in See also:London on the 6th of See also:October 1732. The See also:solar See also:eclipse of 1748 made a deep impression upon him; and having graduated as seventh wrangler from Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge, in 1754, he determined to devote himself wholly to See also:astronomy. He became intimate with See also:James See also:Bradley in 1755, and in 1761 was deputed by the Royal Society to make observations of the transit of See also:Venus at St See also:Helena. During the voyage he experimented upon the determination of See also:longitude by lunar distances, and ultimately effected the introduction of the method into See also:navigation (q.v.). In 1765 he succeeded Nathaniel See also:Bliss as astronomer-royal. Having energetically discharged the duties of his See also:office during See also:forty-six years, he died on the 9th of See also:February 1811. Maskelyne's first contribution to astronomical literature was " A Proposal for Discovering the See also:Annual See also:Parallax of Sirius," published in 176o (Phil. Trans. li. 889). Subsequent volumes of the same See also:series contained his observations of the transits of Venus (1761 and 1769), on the tides at St Helena (1762), and on various astronomical phenomena at St Helena (1764) and at See also:Barbados (1764). In 1763 he published the See also:British Mariner's See also:Guide, which includes the See also:suggestion that in See also:order to facilitate the finding of longitude at See also:sea lunar distances should be calculated beforehand for each See also:year and published in a See also:form accessible to navigators. This important proposal, the germ of the Nautical See also:Almanac, was approved of by the See also:government, and under the care of Maskelyne the Nautical Almanac for 1767 was published in 1766.

He continued during the See also:

remainder of his See also:life the superintendence of this invaluable annual. He further induced the government to See also:print his observations annually, thereby securing the prompt dissemination of a large See also:mass of data inestimable from their continuity and accuracy. Maskelyne had but one assistant, yet the See also:work of the See also:observatory was perfectly organized and methodically executed. He introduced several See also:practical improvements, such as the measurement of See also:time to tenths of a second; and he prevailed upon the government to replace See also:Bird's mural quadrant by a repeating circle 6 ft. in See also:diameter. The new See also:instrument was constructed by E. See also:Troughton; but Maskelyne did not live to see it completed. In 1972 he suggested to the Royal Society the famous Schehallion experiment for the determination of the See also:earth's See also:density and carried out his See also:plan in 1774 (Phil. Trans. 1. 495), the apparent difference of See also:latitude between two stations on opposite sides of the See also:mountain being compared with the real difference of latitude obtained by triangulation. From Maskelyne's observations See also:Charles See also:Hutton deduced a density for the earth 4.5 times that of See also:water (ib. lxviii. 782).

Maskelyne also took a See also:

great See also:interest in various geodetical operations, notably the measurement of the length of a degree of latitude in See also:Maryland and See also:Pennsylvania (ibid. lviii. 323), executed by See also:Mason and See also:Dixon in 1766-1768, and later the determination of the relative longitude of See also:Greenwich and See also:Paris (ib. lxxvii. 151). On the See also:French See also:side the work was conducted by See also:Count See also:Cassini, See also:Legendre, and Mechain; on the English side by See also:General See also:Roy. This triangulation was the beginning of the great trigonometrical survey which has since been extended all over the See also:country. His observations appeared in four large See also:folio volumes (1776-1811). Some of them were reprinted in S. Vince's Astronomy (vol. iii.). (A. M.

End of Article: MASKELYNE, NEVIL (1732-1811)

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