The Macfarlane Observatory was established at the
University of Glasgow
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
in 1757. It was the first purpose-built university observatory in Britain.
History
The Observatory was named after
Alexander MacFarlane
Alexander Macfarlane FRSE LLD (21 April 1851 – 28 August 1913) was a Scottish logician, physicist, and mathematician.
Life
Macfarlane was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland, to Daniel MacFarlane (Shoemaker, Blairgowire) and Ann Small. He s ...
, a merchant and slave-owner in
Kingston,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...
, who bequeathed instruments to the University on his death in 1755.
[DJ Bryden (1970) "The Jamaican Observatories of Colin Campbell and Alexander Macfarlane", ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'' 24:261–272] Macfarlane graduated with an MA from the university in 1728.
He emigrated to Jamaica in 1735. He later became assistant judge and member of the
Legislative Assembly of Jamaica.
Macfarlane purchased the astronomical instruments of
Colin Campbell Colin may refer to:
* Colin (given name)
* Colin (surname)
* ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie
* Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse
* Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...
after 1742.
The instruments arrived to Glasgow in a deteriorated condition, and their suitability for mounting was in question before they were taken in hand by
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was ...
in 1756. Watt trained in London and upon returning to Glasgow served as instrument maker to the university. He was commissioned to repair the instruments and he was paid £5 for his services.
The donation was opportune for Watt as well as the University. As Marshall writes:
:...within a month of
att’sarrival in Glasgow, the University received a case of astronomical instruments...the sea voyage had thrown these delicate instruments out of gear, and they needed overhauling by an expert....
The foundation stone for the observatory was laid in 1757. It was located between Gallowgate and Duke Street.
In 1760
Alexander Wilson was installed as professor of practical astronomy. His interest in
sun spot
Sunspots are phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as temporary spots that are darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic flux that inhibit convection. Sun ...
s made the Observatory an early contributor to
solar physics as Wilson described the surface of the Sun. Observing the variation in width of the
penumbra
The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast.
T ...
of a sunspot near the limb, he concluded the sunspots were depressions in the generally spherical
photosphere
The photosphere is a star's outer shell from which light is radiated.
The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φῶς, φωτός/''phos, photos'' meaning "light" and σφαῖρα/''sphaira'' meaning "sphere", in reference to it ...
. The phenomenon is called the
Wilson effect to acknowledge his early observations.
In the eighteenth century, the social position of an
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. ...
was greater than now: as
Dava Sobel
Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include ''Longitude'', about English clockmaker John Harrison, and '' Galileo's Daughter'', about Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste, and ...
writes, "...The founding philosophy of the Royal Observatory, like that of the Paris Observatory before it, viewed astronomy as a means to an end. All the far-flung stars must be catalogued, so as to chart a course for sailors over the oceans of the earth."
An observatory represented a place of certitude of time and place, a place to set a
marine chronometer
A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or in the mode ...
for use at sea where longitude was found by the
method of lunar distances. The establishment of the Macfarlane Observatory in 1757 was before the 1767 appearance of ''
The Nautical Almanac
''The Nautical Almanac'' has been the familiar name for a series of official British almanacs published under various titles since the first issue of ''The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', for 1767: this was the first nautical al ...
'' based on the
Prime Meridian
A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great ...
at
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...
.
Legacy
A portrait and biographical note about
Alexander MacFarlane
Alexander Macfarlane FRSE LLD (21 April 1851 – 28 August 1913) was a Scottish logician, physicist, and mathematician.
Life
Macfarlane was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland, to Daniel MacFarlane (Shoemaker, Blairgowire) and Ann Small. He s ...
appear on the University's website.
In September 2018, the University published a report titled "Slavery, Abolition and The University of Glasgow" in its efforts towards a "programme of reparatory justice". It outlines significant gifts received by the University from people that derived wealth from
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, which includes an acknowledgement of the value and intellectual capital of the instruments donated by Alexander Macfarlane.
References
{{reflist
External links
* Glasgow Astrophysics Grou
The University Observatories
University of Glasgow
Defunct astronomical observatories
1757 establishments in Scotland
History of Glasgow
Astronomical observatories in Scotland
Scottish Enlightenment
Science and technology in Glasgow