John Flamsteed

English astronomer (1646–1719)

Flamsteed was born in Denby. Because of ill health, which was to dog his career, he was forced to leave school early and was therefore largely self educated. He started his scientific career under the patronage of William Brouncker, the first president of the Royal Society, having impressed him by computing an almanac of celestial events for 1670.

A major problem of the time – one tackled at some time by all major astronomers of the 17th century – was the determination of longitude at sea. A suggestion had been made that the motion of the Moon against the stellar background could be used to determine standard time. Flamsteed, asked by Brouncker to comment on this proposal, pointed out that the scheme was impractical because of the inaccuracy of contemporary tables. Charles II subsequently commanded that accurate tables should be constructed, appointing Flamsteed as first Astronomer Royal with this responsibility in 1675, and building the Royal Greenwich Observatory for him, which was opened in 1676. The limited nature of the royal patronage is indicated by the fact that Flamsteed was paid a salary of £100 a year but was expected to provide his own instruments and staff. He eventually managed to put together two small telescopes and then began his decades of observation, made more difficult by his lack of staff and the crippling headaches from which he suffered. In order to make ends meet he was forced to become a clergyman at Burstow in Surrey from 1684 until his death.

The results of his labors were eventually published posthumously in 1725 as the Historia coelestis Britannica (British Celestial Record). It contains the position of over 3000 stars calculated to an accuracy of ten seconds of arc. It was the first great modern comprehensive telescopic catalog and established Greenwich as one of the leading observatories of the world. The publication of the work was not without its difficulties. It involved Flamsteed in a long and bitter dispute with Newton. Flamsteed was reluctant to rush into print with his catalog, claiming, it seemed to Newton, far too much time for the checking of his numerous observations. The dispute lasted from Newton's assumption of the presidency of the Royal Society in 1703 until Flamsteed's death. It involved the virtual seizure of Flamsteed's papers by Newton, the editing and partial publication by Edmond Halley, and their total rejection by Flamsteed who even went so far as to acquire 300 of the 400 printed copies of his own work and burn them. He managed, however, to revise the first volume to his satisfaction before his death in 1719.

The English astronomer John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first astronomer royal, was the author of an important set of star catalogs.

John Flamsteed was born at Denby near Derby on Aug. 19, 1646, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed. John attended the Free School in Derby until he was forced to leave because of illness. After a brief period of rest and treatment, he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1670 to study astronomy.

Flamsteed's interest in astronomy was stirred by the solar eclipse of 1662, and besides reading all he could find on the subject he attempted to make his own measuring instruments. He came to astronomy more or less self-taught, and yet he became known through an article in 1670 in the foremost scientific journal of the day, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. At Cambridge he observed the planets and the moon, and by these observations and research into written sources he deduced great quantities of data. After earning his degree in 1674 and taking Holy Orders, Flamsteed was invited to London by Sir Jonas Moore, Governor of the Tower, who offered him a private observatory in Chelsea. But events took a different course: it had been pointed out to King Charles II by his advisers, of whom Flamsteed was one, that if more accurate astronomical data were available to seamen, fewer ships and men would be lost. Sir Christopher Wren built an observatory at Greenwich, and Flamsteed was appointed in 1675 "our astronomical observator," the first astronomer royal.

Flamsteed's position was difficult: he had no instruments and no assistants. A clergyman without a living, he took private pupils in mathematics and astronomy to supplement his salary so that he could purchase the instruments he needed. For 13 years he worked single-handedly, with a sextant of 7-foot radius and other instruments that he had provided for himself, and made at least 20,000 observations. He improved the existing tables of known star positions and the tables of the moon's motion, and he attempted to amend existing lunar and planetary theories. Although Flamsteed repeatedly asked for a transit instrument, he was never provided with one; his observations could be made solely with his sextant, which gave only relative positions of the stars.

Isaac Newton badly needed the data from Flamsteed's observations to complete his lunar theory, but Flamsteed regarded them as his own property. The two quarreled, and eventually Flamsteed was obliged to turn his data over to the Royal Society, of which Newton was president. Shortly thereafter, in 1712, the data appeared without Flamsteed's consent, under the title Historia coelestis Britannica. Flamsteed died on Dec. 31, 1719, before the printing of his own edition was complete (1725).

Flamsteed was probably the first to make good use of a timepiece in addition to the usual angle-measuring instruments. He found the annual variation in the position of the polestar to be 40". His greatest achievement was perhaps his British Catalogue of 2884 Stars, which included critiques of many earlier catalogues.

Further Reading

Francis Baily, Account of the Reverend John Flamsteed (1935), is the main source of information. This originally made up the third volume of Flamsteed's Historia coelestis Britannica (1725), completed posthumously. Flamsteed is covered in Eugene Fairfield McPike, Hevelius, Flamsteed and Halley (1957), and Antonie Pannekoek, A History of Astronomy (1961).

Flamsteed, John (1646-1719). Flamsteed was the first astronomer-royal. Handicapped by ill-health, he began astronomical observations and in 1675 was placed on a panel to investigate claims to ascertain longitude at sea. The same year he was appointed by Charles II to supervise the new royal observatory at Greenwich. In 1677 he was elected to the Royal Society. In 1707, after many difficulties, Flamsteed's first catalogue of observations was published.

John Flamsteed
Born	19 August 1646 Denby, Derbyshire, England
Died	31 December 1719 (aged 73) Burstow, Surrey, England
Nationality	English
Fields	Astronomy
Alma mater	Jesus College, Cambridge
Known for	First Astronomer Royal
Influenced	Joseph Crosthwait Abraham Sharp

John Flamsteed FRS (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal.

Contents 1 Life 2 Scientific work 3 Honours 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Further reading 7 External links

Life

Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire, England, and was educated at Derby School, in St Peter's Churchyard, Derby, near where his father carried on a malting business.^[1] At that time, most masters of the school were Puritans.^[1] Flamsteed had a solid knowledge of Latin, essential for reading the literature of the day, and a love of history, leaving the school in May, 1662.^[1]

His progress to University of Cambridge, recommended by the Master of Derby School, was delayed by some years of chronic ill health. During those years, Flamsteed gave his father some help in his business, and from his father learnt arithmetic and the use of fractions, but he used those years also to develop a keen interest in mathematics and astronomy. In July 1662, he was fascinated by the thirteenth century work of Johannes de Sacrobosco, De sphaera mundi, and on 12 September 1662 observed his first partial solar eclipse. Early in 1663, he read Thomas Fale's The Art of Dialling, which set off an interest in sundials. In the summer of 1663, he read Wingate's Canon, William Oughtred's Canon, and Thomas Stirrup's Art of Dialling. At about the same time, he acquired Thomas Street's Astronomia Carolina, or A New Theory of the Celestial Motions (Caroline Tables). He associated himself with local gentlemen interested in astronomy, including William Litchford, whose library included the work of the astrologer John Gadbury which included astronomical tables by Jeremiah Horrocks, who had died in 1641 at the age of twenty-three. Flamsteed was greatly impressed (as Isaac Newton had been) by the work of Horrocks.^[2]

In August 1665, at the age of nineteen and as a gift for his friend Litchford, Flamsteed wrote his first paper on astronomy, entitled Mathematical Essays, concerning the design, use and construction of an astronomer's quadrant, including tables for the latitude of Derby.^[3]

In September 1670, Flamsteed visited Cambridge and entered his name as an undergraduate at Jesus College.^[4] While it seems he never took up full residence, he was there for two months in 1674, and had the opportunity to hear Isaac Newton's Lucasian Lectures.^[5]

He was ordained a deacon and was preparing to take up a living in Derbyshire, when he was invited to London. On 4 March 1675 he was appointed by royal warrant "The King's Astronomical Observator" — the first British Astronomer Royal, with an allowance of £100 a year. In June 1675, another royal warrant provided for the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and Flamsteed laid the foundation stone in August. In February 1676, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in July, he moved into the Observatory where he lived until 1684, when he was finally appointed priest to the parish of Burstow, Surrey. He held that office, as well as that of Astronomer Royal, until his death. He is buried at Burstow.

Scientific work

Bust of John Flamsteed in the Museum of the Royal Greenwich Observatory

Flamsteed accurately calculated the solar eclipses of 1666 and 1668. He was responsible for several of the earliest recorded sightings of the planet Uranus, which he mistook for a star and catalogued as 34 Tauri. The first of these was in December, 1690, which remains the earliest known sighting of Uranus by an astronomer.

On 16 August 1680 Flamsteed catalogued a star, 3 Cassiopeiae, that later astronomers were unable to corroborate. Three hundred years later, the American astronomical historian William Ashworth suggested that what Flamsteed may have seen was the most recent supernova in the galaxy's history, an event which would leave as its remnant the strongest radio source outside of the solar system, known in the third Cambridge (3C) catalogue as 3C 461 and commonly called Cassiopeia A by astronomers. Because the position of "3 Cassiopeiae" does not precisely match that of Cassiopeia A, and because the expansion wave associated with the explosion has been worked backward to the year 1667 and not 1680, some historians feel that all Flamsteed may have done was incorrectly note the position of a star already known.

Flamsteed is also remembered for his conflicts with Isaac Newton, the President of the Royal Society at the time. Flamsteed was refusing to publish work that had been commissioned by the king, and in 1712 Newton and Edmond Halley published a preliminary version of Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica without crediting the author. Some years later, Flamsteed managed to buy many copies of the book, and publicly burnt them in front of the Royal Observatory. However, the numerical star designations in this book are still used and are known as Flamsteed designations.

In 1725 Flamsteed's own version of Historia Coelestis Britannica was published posthumously, edited by his wife Margaret. This contained Flamsteed's observations, and included a catalogue of 2,935 stars to much greater accuracy than any prior work. This was considered the first significant contribution of the Greenwich Observatory. In 1729 his wife published his Atlas Coelestis, assisted by Joseph Crosthwait and Abraham Sharp, who were responsible for the technical side.

Honours

• Fellow of the Royal Society (1676)
• The crater Flamsteed on the Moon is named after him.
• The asteroid (4987) Flamsteed is named in his honour.
• Numerous schools and colleges in Derbyshire have been named after him. The science block at John Port School is named Flamsteed in recognition of his work for science. John Flamsteed Community School in Denby carries his name. Flamsteed House at the Ecclesbourne School in Duffield is also named after him.

See also

• Flamsteed objects

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Birks, John L., John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal (London, Avon Books, 1999) pp. 3-4.
2. ^ Birks, op. cit., pp. 8-11
3. ^ Birks, op. cit., p. 11
4. ^ John Flamsteed in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
5. ^ Birks, op. cit., p. 26

Further reading

• The correspondence of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal compiled and edited by Eric G. Forbes, ... Lesley Murdin and Frances Willmoth. Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing, 1995-2002 ISBN 0750301473 (v. 1); ISBN 0-7503-0391-3 (v. 2) ; ISBN 0-7503-0763-3 (v.3)

• The Gresham lectures of John Flamsteed, edited and introduced by Eric G. Forbes. London: Mansell, 1975 ISBN 0-7201-0518-8

• Newton's Tyranny: The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed, David H. Clark & Stephen H.P. Clark. W. H. Freeman, 2001 ISBN 0-7167-4701-4

External links

• Online catalogue of Flamsteed's working and personal papers (part of the Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives held at Cambridge University Library)
• John Flamsteed Biography (SEDS)
• Rare book collection at the Vienna Institute of Astronomy
• Flamsteed in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Flamsteed biography
• Flamsteed's 1729 Atlas Coelestis and three other early editions - full digital facsimile, Linda Hall Library.

v • d • e Astronomers Royal John Flamsteed (1675) · Edmond Halley (1720) · James Bradley (1742) · Nathaniel Bliss (1762) · Nevil Maskelyne (1765) · John Pond (1811) · George Biddell Airy (1835) · William Christie (1881) · Frank Watson Dyson (1910) · Harold Spencer Jones (1933) · Richard van der Riet Woolley (1956) · Martin Ryle (1972) · Francis Graham-Smith (1982) · Arnold Wolfendale (1991) · Martin Rees (1995)

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