|
Reuben Burrow
Reuben Burrow (30 December 1747 – 7 June 1792) was an English mathematician, surveyor and orientalist. Initially a teacher, he was appointed assistant to Sir Nevil Maskelyne, then astronomer-royal, at the Royal Greenwich Observatory and was involved in the Schiehallion experiment. He later conducted research in India, teaching himself Sanskrit and becoming one of the first members of the Asiatic Society. He was the first to measure the length of a degree of an arc of longitude along the Tropic of Cancer. His other major achievements included a study of Indian mathematics although he earned a reputation for being rude and unpolished amid the leading figures in science who came mostly from the upper-class. One commentator called him "''an able mathematician but a most vulgar and scurrilous dog.''" Biography Burrow was born at Hoberley, near Shadwell, Leeds. His father, a small tenant farmer, gave him some schooling, occasionally interrupted by labour on the farm. He showed an ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nevil Maskelyne
Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris for the Meridian of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich'' using Johann Tobias Mayer's corrections for Euler's ''Lunar Theory'' tables. Biography Maskelyne was born in London, the third son of Edmund Maskelyne of Purton in Wiltshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Booth. Maskelyne's father died when he was 12, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. Maskelyne attended Westminster School and was still a pupil there when his mother died in 1748. His interest in astronomy had begun while at Westminster School, shortly after the eclipse of 14 July 1748. Maskelyne entered St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 1749, graduating as seventh wrangler in 1754. Ordained as a minister in 1755, he became a fellow o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Dinwiddie (astronomer)
James Dinwiddie (born 8 December 1746 in Dumfries – died 19 March 1815 in Pentonville) was a Scottish physicist, astronomer, inventor and natural philosopher. He was an early example of a science popularizer, giving tours and experimental demonstrations across England and Ireland. He travelled and resided in Calcutta, India and travelled to China along with George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Lord Macartney as part of the Macartney Embassy to lecture on physics and promote British astronomical techniques. Life and work Dinwiddie was born on 8 December 1746 in Tinwald, Dumfries and Galloway, Tinwald near Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ... where his parents John Dinwoody and Catharine Riddick were farmers. One of five children, he was born shortly after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Emerson (mathematician)
William Emerson (14 May 1701 – 20 May 1782) was an England, English mathematician. He was born in Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school. Biography William himself had a small estate in Weardale called Castle Gate situated not far from Eastgate, County Durham, Eastgate where he would repair to work throughout the summer on projects as disparate as stonemasonry and watchmaking. Unsuccessful as a teacher, he devoted himself entirely to studious retirement. Possessed of remarkable energy and forthrightness of speech, Emerson published many works which are singularly free from errata. In ''The Principles of Mechanics'' (1754) he shows a wind-powered vehicle in which the vertically mounted propeller gives direct power to the front wheels via a system of cogs. In mechanics he never advanced a proposition which he had not previously tested in practice, nor published an invention without first proving its effects by a mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world. The EIC had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three Presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British army at the time. The operations of the company had a profound effect on the global balance of trade, almost single-handedly reversing the trend of eastward drain of Western bullion, seen since Roman times. Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies", the company rose to account for half of the world's trade duri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buxar
Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India bordering Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development block of Buxar, which also contains the census town of Sarimpur along with 132 rural villages. In modern times, the historic Battle of Chausa and Battle of Buxar were fought in the vicinity. Buxar Railway Station lies on Patna–Mughalsarai section of Howrah–Delhi main line. It is approximately 125 km from the state capital of Patna. The local language of Buxar is Bhojpuri. Typonym According to local traditions, the name ''Buxar'' is derived from a lake in the town named ''Aghsar'' (effacer of Sin), which in course of time became ''Baghsar'' and took the present form that is Buxar. Another vedic legend states that, a sage or rishi named Besira transformed himself to take the look of a Tiger to frighten Durvasa rishi, and doomed by him to retain the form of Tiger foreve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Dalby
Isaac Dalby (1744 – 16 October 1824) was an English mathematician, surveyor and teacher. He was involved in the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain, the first high-precision trigonometric survey of Great Britain. Life Dalby was born in Gloucestershire in 1744. He attended a local school, and was expected to be a clothworker; but having taught himself mathematics, he secured the post of usher in a country school. After three years he opened his own school. The venture failed, and in 1772 he arrived in London, and obtained an appointment as teacher of arithmetic in Archbishop Tenison's School. Afterwards he was employed by Topham Beauclerk in making astronomical observations, in a building which the latter had erected for the purpose; he was also librarian of Beauclerk's large library. This arrangement was broken up by the death of Beauclerk in 1780; in the following year Dalby was appointed mathematics master in a naval school at Chelsea, which later failed. In 1787 he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meridian Arc
In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points on the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length. The purpose of measuring meridian arcs is to determine a figure of the Earth. One or more measurements of meridian arcs can be used to infer the shape of the reference ellipsoid that best approximates the geoid in the region of the measurements. Measurements of meridian arcs at several latitudes along many meridians around the world can be combined in order to approximate a ''geocentric ellipsoid'' intended to fit the entire world. The earliest determinations of the size of a spherical Earth required a single arc. Accurate survey work beginning in the 19th century required several arc measurements in the region the survey was to be conducted, leading to a proliferation of reference ellipsoids around the world. The latest determinations use astro-geodetic measurements and the methods of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krishnanagar, Nadia
Krishnanagar (; also spelled Krishnagar) is a city and a municipality. in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Nadia district. History Krishnanagar municipality was established in 1864 and is one of the oldest municipalities. It is claimed to be named after Krishna Chandra Ray (1728–1782). Previously, the city (village) was called ‘Reui’ (রেউই). The Rajbari built here during the reign of Zaminder Krishna Chandra Roy is a prominent tourist attraction, though the remnants of the past glory have been eroded and only a dilapidated structure of the exquisite places with carving on its inner walls remain today. Geography Krishnanagar is located at . The area of the municipality is around 16 km2. It is situated on the southern banks of the Jalangi River. It has an average elevation of . The Tropic of Cancer passes through the outskirts of Krishnanagar. The latitude of the Tropic of Cancer is 23° 26′ 5″ N. Climate In summer, from Apr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Deane Pearse
Colonel Thomas Dean Pearse (c. 1741/42 – 15 June 1789) was a British Army officer who served as a colonel in the Bengal Army's artillery. He took an interest in astronomy and conducted many surveys during his service in India. Biography Pearse was born about 1741 or 1742 to Royal Navy Captain Thomas Pearse of Reading and his wife Martha. After passing out from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was appointed second lieutenant of the Royal Artillery on 24 October 1761, and first lieutenant on 3 February 1766. In February 1768, he transferred to the East India Company's service. He was made major in the Bengal Army artillery on 2 September 1768 serving in Chunar, lieutenant-colonel on 30 October 1769, and colonel on 12 June 1779. In India he was high in the favour of Warren Hastings, the governor-general, and acted as Hastings' second in his duel with Sir Philip Francis on 17 August 1779. In 1781, on the formation of the Bengal Sepoy Corps, Warren Hastings resolved on s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madras Observatory
The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by William Petrie in 1786 and later moved and managed by the British East India Company from 1792 in Madras (now known as Chennai). The main purpose for establishing it was to assist in navigation and mapping by recording the latitude and maintaining time standards. In later years the observatory also made observations on stars and geomagnetism. The observatory ran from around 1792 to 1931 and a major work was the production of a comprehensive catalogue of stars. History The observatory was established due to the efforts of William Petrie, an amateur astronomer who had a small private observatory at Egmore in Madras. Petrie's original observatory was established in 1786 and was made of iron and timber. In 1789, Petrie gifted his instruments to the Madras Government before retiring to England. Sir Charles Oakley accepted Petrie's plea to establish an official observatory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Jones (philologist)
Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among European and Indo-Aryan languages, which later came to be known as the Indo-European languages. Jones is also credited for establishing the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784. Early life William Jones was born in London; his father William Jones (1675–1749) was a mathematician from Anglesey in Wales, noted for introducing the use of the symbol π. The young William Jones was a linguistic prodigy, who in addition to his native languages English and Welsh, learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age. By the end of his life he knew eight languages with critical thoroughness, was fluent in a further eight, with a dictionary at hand, and had a fair c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the philologist William Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Justice Robert Chambers in Calcutta, the then-capital of the Presidency of Fort William. At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatick Society". In 1825, the society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal". Finally, on 1 July 1951, the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.svg "Click for more on -> Thomas Deane Pearse")
