Observatory Sites and Networks since 1780
Lead Research Organisation:
National Maritime Museum
Department Name: Research
Abstract
Taking advantage of scholarly, institutional and public interest generated by the forthcoming 350th anniversary of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) in 2025, this project aims to create a network through which to share knowledge on and generate research into the histories, interpretation and preservation of historic observatory sites and buildings around the world. As existing accounts are often focused on particular institutions, nations or empires, the opportunity to compare and connect observatory histories and heritage in different countries will be a significant benefit. We propose to hold four events that will bring together UK and international scholars who research observatory histories with curators, educators, astronomers and others who work within relevant sites today. These events will be invited workshops, each representing observatories and scholarship from several different countries, on the following themes:
1) 'Absorbing, adapting and influencing new technologies': will explore the processes by which new disciplines, techniques and instrumentation were taken up within observatories in the 19th and 20th centuries and how they were influenced by local, national, imperial and international contexts.
2) 'Living and working at the observatory': will consider observatories as workplaces and homes, investigating the experiences and opportunities of the men, women and children connected to them, from directors and assistants to families and hired labour.
3) 'Historic observatory networks': will explore connections between observatories, which relied on the circulation of knowledge, texts, instruments and people, and the relationships between national, provincial, colonial and amateur observatories.
4) 'Contemporary observatory networks': will focus on current opportunities and challenges in the preservation and interpretation of observatory sites, learning from previous experience and drawing on the histories explored in the previous workshops
As our understanding of these themes are closely informed by other scholarship, including histories of imperialism, work, domestic life and gender, we intend to include researchers working in these areas. The workshops will be hosted by five different institutions that care for observatory sites and/or object or manuscript and book collections - Royal Museums Greenwich (which includes the ROG and holds its object and book collections), Cambridge University Library (which holds the archives of the ROG and its successor the Royal Greenwich Observatory), the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (including its Crawford Collection of historic astronomical books and archive), National Museums Scotland (which cares for the ROE's historic instruments), and Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (including its historic collections). They will thus create institutional connections as well as drawing attention to the practical requirements of preserving such heritage and the opportunities they offer to researchers.
By bringing together a disparate group of subjects and specialists, we envisage that this network will lead to many tangible outputs for both academic and public audiences that will be informed by a wider range of scholarship and a better understanding of international connections and comparisons. Researchers will gain from new collaborations and openings for research, particularly with regard to the material culture of astronomical heritage, while those responsible for the conservation and interpretation of historic observatories will gain support from a new network of shared expertise and advice. Curators will gain by identifying new stories that explore the global context behind their institutions' histories and collections to create more engaging displays, allowing them to share this research with a diverse community of museum visitors. A planned range of academic and non-specialist publications, both in print and online, will extend this project's reach even further.
1) 'Absorbing, adapting and influencing new technologies': will explore the processes by which new disciplines, techniques and instrumentation were taken up within observatories in the 19th and 20th centuries and how they were influenced by local, national, imperial and international contexts.
2) 'Living and working at the observatory': will consider observatories as workplaces and homes, investigating the experiences and opportunities of the men, women and children connected to them, from directors and assistants to families and hired labour.
3) 'Historic observatory networks': will explore connections between observatories, which relied on the circulation of knowledge, texts, instruments and people, and the relationships between national, provincial, colonial and amateur observatories.
4) 'Contemporary observatory networks': will focus on current opportunities and challenges in the preservation and interpretation of observatory sites, learning from previous experience and drawing on the histories explored in the previous workshops
As our understanding of these themes are closely informed by other scholarship, including histories of imperialism, work, domestic life and gender, we intend to include researchers working in these areas. The workshops will be hosted by five different institutions that care for observatory sites and/or object or manuscript and book collections - Royal Museums Greenwich (which includes the ROG and holds its object and book collections), Cambridge University Library (which holds the archives of the ROG and its successor the Royal Greenwich Observatory), the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (including its Crawford Collection of historic astronomical books and archive), National Museums Scotland (which cares for the ROE's historic instruments), and Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (including its historic collections). They will thus create institutional connections as well as drawing attention to the practical requirements of preserving such heritage and the opportunities they offer to researchers.
By bringing together a disparate group of subjects and specialists, we envisage that this network will lead to many tangible outputs for both academic and public audiences that will be informed by a wider range of scholarship and a better understanding of international connections and comparisons. Researchers will gain from new collaborations and openings for research, particularly with regard to the material culture of astronomical heritage, while those responsible for the conservation and interpretation of historic observatories will gain support from a new network of shared expertise and advice. Curators will gain by identifying new stories that explore the global context behind their institutions' histories and collections to create more engaging displays, allowing them to share this research with a diverse community of museum visitors. A planned range of academic and non-specialist publications, both in print and online, will extend this project's reach even further.
Publications
Akkermans E
(2023)
Wired in time: the neglected infrastructure of the Greenwich Time System
in Science Museum Group Journal
Belteki D
(2023)
The winter of raw computers: the history of the lunar and planetary reductions of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
in British journal for the history of science
Biro S
(2023)
Observing a telescope: The multiple audiences in the life of an instrument
in Science Museum Group Journal
Chinnici I
(2023)
A travelling chronometer
in Science Museum Group Journal
Devoy L
(2023)
Invisible support: the Octagon Room table of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
in Science Museum Group Journal
Figueiredo F
(2023)
The Milne seismograph of Coimbra: an instrument for the making of national and international global science
in Science Museum Group Journal
Higgitt R
(2023)
Models of communication: the audiences of the Edinburgh time ball and gun
in Science Museum Group Journal
Higgitt R
(2023)
Revealing observatory networks through object stories: Introduction
in Science Museum Group Journal
Higgitt R
(2022)
The Mantis Shrimp: A Simon Schaffer Festschrift
Raposo P
(2023)
Harnessing starlight in times of depression: astronomy, technology and spectacle in the opening of the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition
in Science Museum Group Journal
| Description | • We successfully organised 4 workshops (1 online and 3 hybrid) at the historic observatories of Greenwich, Edinburgh and Armagh. • Each workshop programme was an engaging combination of presentations, panel discussions, keynote speakers and site tours. • We also provided participants with the opportunity to view material culture at each observatory site such as architectural features, historic instruments in situ, museum collections in storage and observatory libraries and archives. • The events attracted over 250 delegates, with around 40% from the UK and 60% from overseas. • Over 20 students and early career researchers participated in the workshops, with 10 students fully funded to attend at least one workshop in person. • The workshops were attended by a multidisciplinary mix of academics, curators, astronomers, librarians, archivists and science communicators. • The workshops fulfilled our objective in exploring local, national and global networks related to historic observatories, situated within social, technological and colonial contexts. The papers covered a range of themes across the full time period (1780 to now) and clearly addressed interconnected and comparative networks in different national contexts. • Our speakers covered the full spectrum of observatory sciences including astronomy, meteorology, timekeeping and geomagnetism. • Thanks to the support of our project partners, we were able to use the changing venue of each workshop to highlight the opportunities and potential risks associated with the surviving heritage of observatory sites. • The multidisciplinary scope of the participants helped us to facilitate knowledge exchange between a diverse range of practitioners who would not necessarily work together, for which we can already reap the benefits. For example, one academic participant is now advising on historical content for a new community-focused family planetarium show at one of the workshop venues. • One ambition was to inspire future study and research collaboration, for which we have had some success already with one undergraduate participant now pursuing postgraduate studies in the history of science. • We also wanted to provide practical and intellectual support for custodians of historic observatories. This has been met by the creation of a mailing list so that all participants and any other interested subscribers can sustain these multidisciplinary conversations and networks to support potential future collaboration. • Our intention was to host the second workshop at Cambridge University Library as an opportunity to view the Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives and Cambridge Observatory. Regrettably, external events beyond our control made this infeasible but thankfully our Cambridge colleagues were still able to participate online and in person at other events. |
| Exploitation Route | • In the short-term, we have invited 9 workshop participants to contribute articles for an edited issue of the Science Museum Group Journal (online, open access). This selection of 'object biographies' will highlight the diverse range of topics and material culture featured within the workshops and will promote the project and its insights in the nature of observatory networks. • In the longer-term, the diverse and global histories discussed with the workshops will be invaluable sources of inspiration for new interpretative approaches in various historic observatories. o In particular, the forthcoming refurbishment of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, a project known as 'First Light', will be an ideal opportunity to consider how innovative historical research can be included within new galleries and displays to present a more global, interconnected and engaging narrative. • We have also had discussions with participants about organising future online and in-person workshops, or perhaps arranging thematic sessions within other conferences or events. • We are interested in exploring other publishing opportunities, such as another edited collection or journal issue, with a call for papers based on insights from the workshops. • Based on the enthusiastic and positive responses of our participants, we sincerely believe that these workshops will inspire future collaborative projects between observatories, curators, academics, science communicator and astronomers. |
| Sectors | Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research/observatory-sites-networks-1780 |
| Description | Participation in related workshop: A Global History of Eclipse Reckoning (A Mathematics for Humanity Workshop) |
| Organisation | International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Several key members of the Observatory Networks team participated in this workshop: - Co-PI: Rebekah Higgitt, attendee and tour host at National Museums Scotland - Research team member: Daniel Belteki, presenter of 'The whip of the Sun: the rhetoric of science and government-funding deployed during the organisation of the British expedition to view the solar eclipse of 1860 in Spain' - Academic Advisor: Ileana Chinnici, presenter of 'The 1860 Total Solar Eclipse' Several other workshop presenters and attendees had previously attended Observatory Networks events Several participants at previous Observatory Network events also presented a continuation of their work: - Jesse Garrison, 'First British eclipse expeditions' - Toner Stevenson, 'How Einstein's theory of general relativity was proven in Australia in 1922' - Eun-Joo Ahn, 'Daily Solar Observations at Mount Wilson Observatory and Solar Eclipse Expeditions: shaping each other in the early twentieth century' - Megan Briers, '"The aspect of things was the most fearful that I ever saw": Emotions and Victorian eclipse observations' - Katharina Bick, 'Numbers and Shapes. Examining photographs of the solar corona at the occasion of the total solar eclipse of 30 Aug 1905' - David Aubin, 'Emmanuel Liais, Jules Janssen, Camille Flammarion and the popularization of eclipses in 19th-century France' |
| Collaborator Contribution | This event was organised and hosted by Dr Deborah Kent, University of St Andrews, who attended Workshop 3 (Edinburgh, June 2022) of the Observatory Networks project. This gave her the opportunity to meet with delegates Toner Stevenson and Ileana Chinnici who were subsequently invited to the ICMS event. The complete 5-day workshop featured 24 research presentations (12 from ECR), one public lecture, two working sessions, and an outreach development workshop. The programme also included a specialist visit to the National Museum of Scotland and an excursion to the Royal Observatory Edinburgh where we viewed the Sun with a variety of solar scopes. |
| Impact | This workshop provided a useful opportunity for members of the Observatory Network project to reconvene and explore the theme of eclipse histories in more detail. In terms of academic outputs, the ICMS workshops has resulted in multiple follow-up activities such as: - Invitations for speakers to participate in additional conferences both here in the UK and overseas - Several invitations to participate in the Isaac Newton Institute programme on History of Modern Mathematics (currently on in Cambridge) - Some of the students and ECRs have created a new reading and support group, 'Young Historians of Astronomy' - There will be a special issue of 'History of Science and Technology', edited by the conference organisers, which will appear in June 2025: 'Towards a global history of eclipse reckoning: Entanglements of disciplines, actors, and practices'. The four papers are co-authored by workshop participants. - The workshop also gave participants the opportunity to enhance their awareness of the material culture of the subject with tours of the National Museum of Scotland and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. These visits were particularly appreciated by participants who had never used a telescope or else visited an observatory before. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Participation in related workshop: A Global History of Eclipse Reckoning (A Mathematics for Humanity Workshop) |
| Organisation | University of St Andrews |
| Department | School of Mathematics and Statistics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Several key members of the Observatory Networks team participated in this workshop: - Co-PI: Rebekah Higgitt, attendee and tour host at National Museums Scotland - Research team member: Daniel Belteki, presenter of 'The whip of the Sun: the rhetoric of science and government-funding deployed during the organisation of the British expedition to view the solar eclipse of 1860 in Spain' - Academic Advisor: Ileana Chinnici, presenter of 'The 1860 Total Solar Eclipse' Several other workshop presenters and attendees had previously attended Observatory Networks events Several participants at previous Observatory Network events also presented a continuation of their work: - Jesse Garrison, 'First British eclipse expeditions' - Toner Stevenson, 'How Einstein's theory of general relativity was proven in Australia in 1922' - Eun-Joo Ahn, 'Daily Solar Observations at Mount Wilson Observatory and Solar Eclipse Expeditions: shaping each other in the early twentieth century' - Megan Briers, '"The aspect of things was the most fearful that I ever saw": Emotions and Victorian eclipse observations' - Katharina Bick, 'Numbers and Shapes. Examining photographs of the solar corona at the occasion of the total solar eclipse of 30 Aug 1905' - David Aubin, 'Emmanuel Liais, Jules Janssen, Camille Flammarion and the popularization of eclipses in 19th-century France' |
| Collaborator Contribution | This event was organised and hosted by Dr Deborah Kent, University of St Andrews, who attended Workshop 3 (Edinburgh, June 2022) of the Observatory Networks project. This gave her the opportunity to meet with delegates Toner Stevenson and Ileana Chinnici who were subsequently invited to the ICMS event. The complete 5-day workshop featured 24 research presentations (12 from ECR), one public lecture, two working sessions, and an outreach development workshop. The programme also included a specialist visit to the National Museum of Scotland and an excursion to the Royal Observatory Edinburgh where we viewed the Sun with a variety of solar scopes. |
| Impact | This workshop provided a useful opportunity for members of the Observatory Network project to reconvene and explore the theme of eclipse histories in more detail. In terms of academic outputs, the ICMS workshops has resulted in multiple follow-up activities such as: - Invitations for speakers to participate in additional conferences both here in the UK and overseas - Several invitations to participate in the Isaac Newton Institute programme on History of Modern Mathematics (currently on in Cambridge) - Some of the students and ECRs have created a new reading and support group, 'Young Historians of Astronomy' - There will be a special issue of 'History of Science and Technology', edited by the conference organisers, which will appear in June 2025: 'Towards a global history of eclipse reckoning: Entanglements of disciplines, actors, and practices'. The four papers are co-authored by workshop participants. - The workshop also gave participants the opportunity to enhance their awareness of the material culture of the subject with tours of the National Museum of Scotland and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. These visits were particularly appreciated by participants who had never used a telescope or else visited an observatory before. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | 14 October 2024: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', talk to West of London Astronomical Society, UK (delivered in-person) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture at a regional astronomical society. Raised awareness of research to a public audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.wolas.org.uk/ |
| Description | 18 September 2024: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', talk to Havering Astronomical Society, UK (delivered in-person) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public talk to a regional astronomical society. Raised awareness of research to a general audience. Email of thanks from organisers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.havastro.co.uk/ |
| Description | 20 April 2024: 'The man who slowed down the Earth: the work of Sir Harold Spencer Jones, tenth Astronomer Royal', talk at Society for the History of Astronomy Spring Conference, Birmingham, UK (delivered in-person). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lecture at the Society of Astronomy Spring Conference, which is an amateur organisation open to all those with an interest in the subject. Raised profile of research to a general audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com/ |
| Description | 29 February 2024, 'Greenwich Observatory, the 1919 solar eclipse and relativity', lecture to Bridgewater State University, USA (delivered online). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing research with school teachers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Academic Workshop 1 - 6-8 Dec 2021- online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our first workshop in the series was an online event on the theme of 'Absorbing, adapting and influencing new technologies' in which 16 speakers explored the processes and contexts by which new disciplines, techniques and instrumentation were taken up within observatories in the 19th and 20th centuries. The discussions encompassed topics such as: • Defining observatory networks • Comparing the histories of similar instruments installed in different observatories • How photography transformed the modern observatory • Electronic imaging • Telegraphic networks between observatories • Automation of instruments • Instruments and international collaboration • What can we learn about networks from the material culture of observatories? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research/observatory-sites-networks-absorbing-adapting-influencing... |
| Description | Academic Workshop 2 - 24-25 March 2022 - hybrid event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Second workshop in our series based on the theme 'Living and working at the observatory', held in person at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and freely available online to a national and international audience. Through a combination of presentations, panel discussions and a keynote lecture, we explored the stories associated with the staff, assistants and residents of different observatories during the 19th and 20th centuries with multiple perspectives from across the globe. We also took advantage of the location by viewing Royal Observatory-related artefacts in our stores and by undertaking a walking tour of the local area to view the homes once occupied by Observatory staff. Topics considered at this workshop: • Staff and assistants at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich • Observatories as domestic spaces • Staff and assistants at colonial observatories • Geographies of observatories • Observatory sites: ideals and failures |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research/observatory-sites-networks-living-working-observatory |
| Description | Academic Workshop 3 - 28-29 June 2022 - Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In this hybrid workshop based on the theme of 'Historic Observatory Networks' we explored and questioned the historic connections and influences that have shaped observatory networks within their local communities, across colonial empires and between hemispheres during the 19th and 20th centuries. A series of visits to see the architecture, instruments and archives of the two historic observatory sites in Edinburgh helped us explore the interplay between these factors and highlighted how we can extract information from surviving material culture. Ten speakers from the UK, Europe, India, North and South America prompted discussion on a range of topics: • Colonial networks • Local networks and observatory locales • Observatories across hemispheres • Observatory locations in Edinburgh • Contested networks, past and present • Observatories within international networks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research/observatory-sites-networks-historic-observatory-networks |
| Description | Academic workshop 4 - 8-9 Sept 2022 - Armagh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Contemporary observatory networks', Armagh Observatory and Planetarium In this hybrid workshop we shifted our focus towards the challenges and opportunities of maintaining historic observatories as they become multifunctional sites whose guardians must balance the requirements of astronomical research, public engagement and preserving the material culture of historic buildings, instruments, libraries and archives. Over two days we heard a series of case studies from practitioners with expertise in creating innovative visitor interpretation (using drama, graphics and new historical perspectives), preserving observatory assets through digitisation and uncovering the hidden histories and research opportunities of observatory libraries. The workshop concluded with a broader discussion about creating future networks for collaboration and support among these unique sites of astronomical heritage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research/observatory-sites-networks-contemporary-observatory-netwo... |
| Description | Public talk to the Old Edinburgh Club |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Gave a lecture entitled 'Instruments, Institutions and Individuals: The Local Networks of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, in the 19th Century' to the Old Edinburgh Club, attended in person and online. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://oldedinburghclub.org.uk/lectures/ |
| Description | Public talk: 'Proposals to move the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1836-1945', presented to Abingdon Astronomical Society (in person) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public talk to Abingdon Astronomical Society, April 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Public talk: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', presented to British Astronomical Association, Historical Section (in person) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | My talk was one of several talks at an all-day meeting of the British Astronomical Association's Historical Section. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Public talk: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', presented to Flamsteed Astronomy Society (online) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public talk to Flamsteed Astronomy Society, delivered in April 2022, title: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Public talk: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', presented to Knowle Astronomical Society (in person and online) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A talk given at a meeting of Knowle Astronomical Society, a local astronomy group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Public talk: 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', presented to South East Kent Astronomy Society (online) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public talk, titled 'Refugees, star clusters and relativity: astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War', presented to South East Kent Astronomy Society on 11 February 2023. I gave the presentation online, but the meeting was a hybrid event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |