Thomas Glanville Taylor (22 November 1804 – 4 May 1848) was an English astronomer who worked extensively at the

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 ...

and produced the Madras Catalogue of Stars from around 1831 to 1839. Madras_Observatory

Life

He was the son of Thomas Taylor, assistant at the

Royal Greenwich Observatory 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 G ...

, and his wife Susannah née Glanville, born at Ashburton, Devon.

John Pond John Pond FRS (1767 – 7 September 1836) was a renowned English astronomer who became the sixth Astronomer Royal, serving from 1811 to 1835. Biography Pond was born in London and, although the year of his birth is known, the records indica ...

, the Astronomer Royal, suggested that the young boy choose a career in astronomy and he joined the observatory in 1820. From August 1822 he was in charge of making transit observations, and his ability was noted by

Sir Edward Sabine Sir Edward Sabine ( ; 14 October 1788 – 26 June 1883) was an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th president of the Royal Society. He led the effort to establish a system of magnetic observatories in ...

. Taylor then worked on

Stephen Groombridge Stephen Groombridge FRS (7 January 1755 – 30 March 1832) was a British merchant and astronomer. Life He was born at Goudhurst in Kent on 7 January 1755. He succeeded when about 21 to the business in West Smithfield of a linen draper named ...

's star catalogue. Taylor was appointed director of the East India Company's observatory at Madras, arriving there on 15 September 1830. He brought with him new equipment including transit telescopes and a mural circle. He worked with four Indian assistants, who took observations when he went to join the

Great Trigonometrical Survey The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project that aimed to survey the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was begun in 1802 by the British infantry officer William Lambton, under the auspices of the East India Company.Gil ...

. Taylor collaborated with

John Caldecott John Caldecott (16 September 1801 – 16 December 1849, Trivandrum) was an East India Company commercial agent, meteorologist and astronomer who worked in the court of the Raja of Travancore at the Trivandrum Observatory. Caldecott was born in Fi ...

of the Travancore observatory to make observations on the magnetic field, especially the magnetic equator, of the earth around 1837. A Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(elected 10 February 1842) Taylor helped establish an observatory at

Doddabetta Doddabetta is the highest mountain in the Nilgiri Mountains at 2,637 metres (8,652 feet). There is a reserved forest area around the peak. It is 9 km from Ooty, on the Ooty-Kotagiri Road in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, India. ...

Ootacamund Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is located ...

. He was suffering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

when he went to visit his ailing daughter in England in 1848. She died in April, and he himself died a month later, in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He was succeeded at the Madras Observatory by

William Stephen Jacob William Stephen Jacob (1813–1862) was an English immigrant astronomer in India, who acted as the director of the Madras Observatory from 1848 to 1859. His early claim of 1855 to have detected an exoplanet, in orbit around 70 Ophiuchi, is now th ...

(1813-1862).

Works

Taylor began the publication of the ''Madras General Catalogue of Stars'' which was praised by Sir George Airy. His catalogues were of importance in navigation and in the Trigonometrical Survey for determining longitude as well as latitude.

Family

Taylor married Eliza Baratty, daughter of Colonel Eley, on 4 July 1832. They had three sons and a daughter.

References

External links

''Results Of Astronomical Observations Made At The Honorable The East India Company's Observatory At Madras, Vol.1 For The Year 1831''Volume IV

''A General Catalogue of the Principal Fixed Stars from observations made at the Honorable, The East India Company's Observatory at Madras''
1804 births 1848 deaths 19th-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society People from Ashburton, Devon {{astronomer-stub