DOCSLIB.ORG

Was That Thunder I Heard Or Not?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Was That Thunder I Heard Or Not? Remember, remember the fifth of November: was that thunder I heard or not? Article Published Version Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) Open Access Owens, M.J. (2016) Remember, remember the fifth of November: was that thunder I heard or not? Weather, 71 (6). pp. 134-137. ISSN 0043-1656 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2725 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/63950/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from the work. To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wea.2725 Publisher: Wiley All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading's research outputs online 1842 it was in dissolving embryo: but it facilitating the development of systematic Middleton WEK. 1964. The History of the is true, as General Sabine has said, that it regional- and global-scale meteorology Barometer. Johns Hopkins: Baltimore, MD. would not have flourished but for my exer- have been underrepresented in science Ronalds F. 1845–1852. Annual report tions. I maintained it against the strong history. concerning the observatory of the British opposition of many influential members Association at Kew. Reports of the British of the British Association (& particularly Association for the Advancement of of one…). The system now pursued at Acknowledgements Sci ence. Kew is precisely that which I long since The author thanks staff at the Institution Ronalds F. 1847. Experiment made at the of Engineering and Technology Archives; Kew Observ atory on a new kite-apparatus in a document, received by a commit- for meteorological observations, or other tee, strenuously advocated. For the con- National Meteorological Library and Archive; purposes. Philos. Mag. Ser. 3 XXXI: stantly kind… & powerfull [sic] support British Science Association; UCL Special 191–192; reprinted 1896: The use of the of Sir John Herschell [sic] Bar t and several Collections; Royal Society; Cambridge kite in meteorology. Monthly Weather Sir Francis Ronalds and the Kew ObservatorySir Ronalds and the Kew Francis other gentlemen I shall ever feel grateful University Library – Royal Greenwich Review 24: 416–417. (Ronalds, 1860). Observatory Archive; the Science Museum Ronalds F. 1855. Descriptions de in South Kensington; and the Museum of the Quelques Instruments Météorologiques et Magnétiques. Printed privately. Working always in an honorary capacity, History of Science at the University of Oxford, Ronalds F. 1860. Autobiographical Letter, Ronalds set up the observatory, in part with for their kind assistance in this research. his own funds and equipment, and moulded UCL Special Collections, Ronalds Papers, GB 0103 MS ADD 206. its successful mission. His belief in Kew remained steady when others were wavering Ronalds BF. 2016. Sir Francis Ronalds: References Father of the Electric Telegraph. Imperial or, worse, undermining his efforts. Critically, Colleg e Press: London, UK. Athenæum. 1845. p 639. it was the excellence of his instruments Scott RH. 1885. The history of the Kew and observations that brought numerous BAAS. 1843–1872. Reports of the British Observatory. Proc. R. Soc. London 39: supporters to the institution, and they later Association for the Advancement of 37–86. Weather – June 2016, Vol. 71, No. 6 71, No. Vol. – June 2016, Weather Science. http://www.biodiversitylibrary. used their influence to promote its aims and org/bibliography/2276#/summary fight the necessary political battles. Today’s (accessed 1 December 2015). hindsight confirms that Ronalds deserves Collen H. 1846. On the application of the considerable credit for Kew’s early survival photographic camera to meteorological Correspondence to: Beverley F. Ronalds and later evolution into one of the most registration. Philos. Mag. Ser. 3 XXVIII: 73–75. [email protected] important meteorological and geomagnetic observatories in the world. His contributions Galvin JFP. 2003. Kew Observatory. © 2016 Royal Meteorological Society Weather 58: 478–484. in establishing Kew’s reputation and in doi:10.1002/wea.2739 Remember, remember the fifth of November: Was that thunder I heard or not? M. J. Owens or even changes in the space environment the NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (Stringfellow, 1974; Owens et al., 2014). (http://badc.nerc.ac.uk). The measurement Space and Atmospheric Electricity Group, Thunder day observations are potentially is a simple one: Met Office observers sim- Department of Meteorology, University susceptible to false positives, such as vehicle ply record a thunder day on any day they of Reading, UK noise or natural/anthropogenic explosions hear thunder (Lewis, 1991). There is no being wrongly attributed to thunder (e.g. formal training in discriminating between Rampino, 1989). Thus, increasing urbanisa- thunder and false positives, and there is Introduction tion and industrialisation may result in a no stipulation to use any additional instru- The only long-term observations of thun- long-term change in the noise level and mentation for verification (J. Wilkinson, pers. derstorm activity, extending back more hence bias in the data. On shorter time- comm.). In practice, however, on the sus- than 100 years, are ‘thunder days,’ wherein scales, ‘Bonfire Night’ (or ‘Guy Fawkes Night’) pected identification of thunder, observers an observer records 1 or a 0 depending on 5 November in the UK, as well as New may on occasion also consult radar data on whether or not (they think) they have Year’s Eve, are obvious candidates for false- or radio lightning observations (or ‘sferics’) heard thunder that day (e.g. Brooks, 1925; positive thunder identification. if/when available (P. Inness, pers. comm.). Changnon, 1985; Kitagawa, 1989). Despite Conversely, it is not possible for a thunder the low dynamic range (e.g. storms with 1 Data and analysis day to be recorded without the observer or 1000 lightning strokes will both simply Thunder day records produced by pro- having heard thunder, thus distant bright register a 1 in thunder days) and the inher- fessional observers at Met Office mete- fireworks confused with lightning flashes ent subjectivity of such measurements, they orological stations in the UK are available should not result in false positives in the are invaluable for long-term studies of thun- from Met Office Integrated Data Archiving thunder day record. derstorm occurrence, which could vary as a System (MIDAS) land and marine surface Prior to 1950, thunder days were recorded 134 result of global warming (Romps et al., 2014) stations (1853–current), made available by in the climatological returns of manned UK stations, with monthly totals available in the average T (winter), the fractional climato- ning mean is applied to ΔT, yielding ΔT3. Monthly Weather Report. In the MIDAS daily logical deviations, ΔT, are computed (i.e., This may miss some activity in years when in the reporting of thunder days Variations dataset, thunder day records routinely began ΔT = [T – T50]/T50). fireworks celebrations are split between the in 1950, with the number of manned UK Organised firework displays and private weekends before/after 5 November, but this stations making such observations limited firework use may occur on a number of is preferable to over-smoothing the whole to fewer than 10 until 1957 and fewer than days around 5 November, particularly in dataset and removing the possible signal. 100 until 1971. After this date, there were years when it falls during the middle of An annual composite of ΔT3, centred on approximately 400 stations making thunder the week and the celebrations are shifted 5 November so as to allow for leap days, day observations, though it unfortunately either forwards or backwards to the week- is shown for the 1980–2010 period in slowly tapered off after 2000, to fewer than end. If it assumed that fireworks use is Figure 3(b). In this annual composite, there 200 again at the end of 2010 (see also Perry focussed on the Friday or Saturday closest is clearly no evidence for an increase in the and Hollis, 2005 and Figure 1(a)). Due to to 5 November, then on average this will false-positive reporting of thunder due to the difficulty in discriminating between an mean fireworks use is within ±1.3 days of fireworks. In fact, 5 November has the low- observation of no thunder and no thunder fireworks night. To capture this, a 3-day run- est mean ΔT3 value. observations, any station making a single 6 71, No. Vol. – June 2016, Weather observation of thunder in a given year is assumed to be actively observing and is included in the analysis. T, the fraction of UK observing stations which recorded thunder on a given day, is constructed from indi- vidual station data. Multi-shell rockets and slow-burn com- posite fireworks are most likely to be mis- taken for thunder (pyrosociety.org.uk, pers. Number of stations comm.). It is difficult to obtain data on the widespread use of such fireworks in the UK, but anecdotally at least, they appear Year to have been in widespread public use for Bonfire Night celebrations since at least the early 1980s. Thus this study primarily considers the period 1980–2010. Changing the start year for this interval by ±10 years does not qualitatively change the results reported in this study, as discussed later. Figure 1(b) shows daily (black) and annual (red) T values. As expected, there is a very strong seasonal variation in T. There is some evidence of a change in the annual mean T associated with the increase in the num- ber of stations from 1950 through to the early 1970s.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Electric Telegraph
    To Mark, Karen and Paul CONTENTS page ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTS TO 1837 13 Early experiments—Francis Ronalds—Cooke and Wheatstone—successful experiment on the London & Birmingham Railway 2 `THE CORDS THAT HUNG TAWELL' 29 Use on the Great Western and Blackwall railways—the Tawell murder—incorporation of the Electric Tele- graph Company—end of the pioneering stage 3 DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE COMPANIES 46 Early difficulties—rivalry between the Electric and the Magnetic—the telegraph in London—the overhouse system—private telegraphs and the press 4 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY TO 1868 73 The inland network—sources of capital—the railway interest—analysis of shareholdings—instruments- working expenses—employment of women—risks of submarine telegraphy—investment rating 5 ACHIEVEMENT IN SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY I o The first cross-Channel links—the Atlantic cable— links with India—submarine cable maintenance com- panies 6 THE CASE FOR PUBLIC ENTERPRISE 119 Background to the nationalisation debate—public attitudes—the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce— Frank Ives. Scudamore reports—comparison with continental telegraph systems 7 NATIONALISATION 1868 138 Background to the Telegraph Bill 1868—tactics of the 7 8 CONTENTS Page companies—attitudes of the press—the political situa- tion—the Select Committee of 1868—agreement with the companies 8 THE TELEGRAPH ACTS 154 Terms granted to the telegraph and railway companies under the 1868 Act—implications of the 1869 telegraph monopoly 9 THE POST OFFICE TELEGRAPH 176 The period 87o-1914—reorganisation of the
    [Show full text]
  • Kew Observatory and the Evolution of Victorian Science, 1840–1910
    introduction Kew Observatory, Victorian Science, and the “Observatory Sciences” One more recent instance of the operations of this Society in this respect I may mention, in addition to those I have slightly enumerated. I mean the important accession to the means of this Society of a fixed position, a place for deposit, regula- tion, and comparison of instruments, and for many more purposes than I could name, perhaps even more than are yet contemplated, in the Observatory at Kew. Address by Lord Francis Egerton to British Association for the Advancement of Science, June 1842 When in 1842 Lord Egerton, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS), announced the association’s acquisition of Kew Observatory (figure I.1), he heralded the inaugura- tion of what would become one of the major institutions of nineteenth- century British—indeed international—science. Originally built as a pri- vate observatory for King George III and long in a moribund state, after 1842 the Kew building would, as Egerton predicted, become a multi- functional observatory, put to more purposes than were even imagined in 1842. It became distinguished in several sciences: geomagnetism, me- teorology, solar astronomy, and standardization—the latter term being used in this book to refer to testing scientific instruments and develop- ing prototypes of instruments to be used elsewhere, as well as establish- ing and refining constants and standards of measurement. Many of the major figures in the physical sciences of the nineteenth century were in some way involved with Kew Observatory. For the first twenty months of the twentieth century, Kew was the site of the National Physical Labora- 3 © 2018 University of Pittsburgh Press.
    [Show full text]
  • Methods of Social Reform
    METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM. METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM AND OTHER PAPERS BY W. STANLEY JEVONS, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. &mbm MACMILLAN AND CO. 1883 [All sightr rW.1 PREFACE. A FEW words will explain that this volume is a collection of the Essays published under the title of Methods of Social Reform” in The Contemporary Rcckw, and of otherpapers and addresses on kindredsubjects. They extend over a period of fifteen years, and I have given at the commencement of eachpaper the date at which it was written, 89 I have thought it better to arrange them as far &9 I Could according to subjects rather than by date. It was my husband’s inten- tion to have republished these Essays himself, and with this view hehad already revised two of them--“ Experimental Legislation and the Drink Traffic,” and “Amusements of the People ;” to the latter he had added several new paragraphs, He would, I am sure, have carefully edited and revised the others in the same way, but they are now republished just as theywere originally written. The Essay on “The Use and Abnse of Museums ’’ has not before been published. It was chie0y written in 1881, for Contemporary Reuieu~,but wm laid aside from the pressure of other work, and I am unable to say the exact time at which it waa hished. It still the halrevision which he wodd have given before sending it vi PREFACE. to Prerre. The Lecture on rr Industrial Partnerships" ie m- fedto by Mr. Jevona in his book on Ir The State in Relation to Labour,'' * p.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Francis Ronalds
    SIR FRANCIS RONALDS Sir Francis Ronalds was a well-known nineteenth-century scientist who came to live at Battle; he died there and is buried in the cemetery. He was the brother in law of Samuel Carter, who built Telham Court, (see Houses and families) and like him a Unitarian. Ronalds's family was based in Brentford, Middlesex, with its first known male moving there from Moidart in Invernessshire by 1754 and living as a nurseryman. He was the grandfather of Sir Francis, who was born on 21 February 1788. The records show Francis's father as a London merchant, which is a term needing much elaboration to determine his social position. Another report states that he was a cheesemonger. Francis was born in Middlesex on 21 February 1788. It is probably not now well-known just how revolutionary the electric telegraph was. It allowed people to communicate almost instantly across any distance and in all weathers, in codes easily translatable into written languages. Before then the only such method was by semaphore signalling, a laborious, line-of-sight system relying on each signaller being able clearly to see the next one in line; this was the process by which urgent messages were sent between London and Portsmouth, for example, during the Napoleonic wars. It was, however, preferable to the earlier use of simple beacons, which would indicate only that there was some form of emergency. The heliograph, which made use of sunlight signals from mirrors, appeared only in the 1820s. The telegraph was the marvel of the age. In 1845, for example, a suspected murderer caught the train at Slough but was noticed; by the time that he arrived at Paddington the police were waiting for him.
    [Show full text]
  • SIS Bulletin Index Issues 1 to 80
    Scientific Instrument Society Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society Index No 1 to No 80 Scientific Instrument Society Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society Index No 1 to No 80 Contents Introduction Index of Topics 3 Index of Articles 37 Index of Book Reviews 51 The Scientific Instrument Society 61 Documents Associated with the Index 61 Introduction Development of the Index of the Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society The first 40 issues of the Bulletin were indexed successively, ten issues at a time. With the advent of No 50 it was decided to amalgamate the earlier work and create a single index for all 50 issues. The work involved was a vast undertaking requiring the use of optical character recognition and other computer techniques on the earlier work, and a good deal of careful proof reading. The final product was handsomely produced in A4 size uniform with the Bulletin, running to 64 index pages. Having reached 80 issues, a similar combining exercise has been done, but with fewer categories within the Index. However, whilst the main index of individual topics remains as comprehensive as previously it is presented in a smaller typeface and makes use of more columns. At the time of printing, consideration is being given to the use of this new Index as a facility on the Society's website and also in connection with CDROMs of the Bulletin. Notes for using the 3 sections of the Bulletin Index, Issue No 1 to Issue No 80 Index of Topics Topics are arranged alphabetically by subject. References are shown as 'Issue No : Page No' eg 2:15 or 45:7-11 Index of Articles Authors of articles are listed alphabetically with the titles of their articles following in issue order.
    [Show full text]
  • Prof. Charles WHEATSTONE and HIS TELEGRAPHS PART I HISTORY
    1 Prof. Charles WHEATSTONE AND HIS TELEGRAPHS ©Fons Vanden Berghen PREFACE. In the past I have written articles about the companies of Louis BREGUET and Werner SIEMENS, their activities in the field of telegraphy and their instruments. So it is high time that I now devote one to Charles WHEATSTONE…. Let it be clear from the beginning: I did not do any research about the life and work of Prof. Ch. Wheatstone. First, I am not in the position to do that, and second, some talented people have already done this thoroughly and with success. That has resulted in splendid books and there are several of them in my library. See the bibliography at the end of this article. SUMMARY [2]. Wheatstone began his life-long involvement with electrical engineering in the days when it was still at the stage of “philosophical toys”. Yet, after having done tests in order to measure the speed of electricity in cables, he had a vision of telecommunications that could deliver printed messages around the world. Working with William F. Cooke he developed the first practical electric telegraph; he also made contributions in the fields of optics and acoustics as well as electrical engineering. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the scientific literature in several languages, and made connections which benefited not only his own work but also that of others. His research aided the development of the new King’s College in London into a centre of scientific excellence. Amongst his many inventions were the concertina and the stereoscope, both very popular in the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • On Development of Information Communications in Human Society
    Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 17(3-B), 520-545, 2019 ON DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS IN HUMAN SOCIETY Bangwei Zhang* Hunan University, College of Physics Changsha, People’s Republic of China DOI: 10.7906/indecs.17.3.13 Received: 21 May 2019. Regular article Accepted: 27 September 2019. ABSTRACT Information is very important. Information is also very complicated, making that people have no common understanding and conclusion for the nature of it up today. There are too many papers and some books to describe information; however it is rather difficult to find the description and analysing for the whole history of information from the advent of human beings to the present day. Two parts of information in prehistoric period and the time interred divinization are described. Every part is separated according to several succeeded stages for description. It is near impossible to describe in detail such entire historical facts of information in human society in a paper, so the description and discussion is focused on their comprehensiveness and integrity. By knowing and analysing all these solid historical facts of information, some relative issues e.g. “did information age really exist in the development of material civilization in human society” can be recognized easily. KEY WORDS information, history of information, information communication, matter, substance civilization, six-stage theory CLASSIFICATION JEL: B10, D83 *Corresponding author, : [email protected]; +0731 88822715; *College of Physics, Hunan University, Changsha 410 082, People’s Republic of China * On development of information communications in human society INTRODUCTION Near everybody knows the importance of information because nobody can leave the information and it communications.
    [Show full text]
  • From Semaphore to Satellite
    This electronic version (PDF) was scanned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Library & Archives Service from an original paper document in the ITU Library & Archives collections. La présente version électronique (PDF) a été numérisée par le Service de la bibliothèque et des archives de l'Union internationale des télécommunications (UIT) à partir d'un document papier original des collections de ce service. Esta versión electrónica (PDF) ha sido escaneada por el Servicio de Biblioteca y Archivos de la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT) a partir de un documento impreso original de las colecciones del Servicio de Biblioteca y Archivos de la UIT. (ITU) ﻟﻼﺗﺼﺎﻻﺕ ﺍﻟﺪﻭﻟﻲ ﺍﻻﺗﺤﺎﺩ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺤﻔﻮﻇﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻗﺴﻢ ﺃﺟﺮﺍﻩ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺋﻲ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﺴﺢ ﺗﺼﻮﻳﺮ ﻧﺘﺎﺝ (PDF) ﺍﻹﻟﻜﺘﺮﻭﻧﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺨﺔ ﻫﺬﻩ .ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺤﻔﻮﻇﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻗﺴﻢ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻮﻓﺮﺓ ﺍﻟﻮﺛﺎﺋﻖ ﺿﻤﻦ ﺃﺻﻠﻴﺔ ﻭﺭﻗﻴﺔ ﻭﺛﻴﻘﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻧ ﻘ ﻼً 此电子版（PDF版本）由国际电信联盟（ITU）图书馆和档案室利用存于该处的纸质文件扫描提供。 Настоящий электронный вариант (PDF) был подготовлен в библиотечно-архивной службе Международного союза электросвязи путем сканирования исходного документа в бумажной форме из библиотечно-архивной службы МСЭ. From Semaphore to Satellite 1865-1965 Published by the International Telecommunication Union Geneva 1965 on the Occasion of its Centenary From Semaphore to Satellite From Semaphore to Satellite This Volume is published on the Occasion of the Centenary of the International Telecommunication Union Published by the International Telecommunication Union Geneva 1965 From Semaphore to Satellite Introduction Part I — The Telegraph Part II -
    [Show full text]
  • Carters and Lamberts of Telham Court, and Sir Francis Ronalds
    THE CARTERS AND LAMBERTS OF TELHAM COURT, AND SIR FRANCIS RONALDS Telham Court occupies an impressive position to the south of Battle, with a view across the sunken Powdermill Lane to the Abbey and beyond it the town. It is now owned by a commercial organisation but for a while it was not just a farm on the estates of the Abbey Websters but a country house in its own right. The Quarry Hill farm emerges from Webster ownership in the mid-nineteenth century when the family fell on hard times. They were compelled to sell the Abbey itself to the future duke of Cleveland, but before then they had sold the Quarry Hill area. This was no small estate: it ran the length of Battle Hill and Hastings Road from the railway to Telham Lane, and included Loose, Telham and Downbarn farms; north of Hastings Road its lands stretched almost to Marley Lane. in the 1871 census it was recorded as having 553 acres and employing 15 men and 16 boys. The buyer was Samuel Carter (1805-78), a native of Coventry. He had qualified as a solicitor with his uncle at Birmingham at just the right time, for the firm was engaged as solicitors to the new London and Birmingham Railway in 1831 and then to other railways too. He moved to London in 1850 and retired ten years later. He bought Quarry Hill and rebuilt the house in 1857 but he also had property in Kenilworth and Coventry (for which he was briefly MP in 1868). He sold the Battle estate in 1875, moving back to the Midlands.
    [Show full text]
  • The Photographic Self-Recording...Pdf
    ROCA-ROSELL, A. (ed.).(2012) The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the ESHS, Barcelona, 18-20 November 2010. Barcelona: SCHCT-IEC, p. 462. I. M. PERES, M. E. JARDIM, F. M. COSTA: THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SELF-RECORDING OF NATURAL PHENOMENA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Isabel Marília PERES1, Maria Estela JARDIM2, Fernanda Madalena COSTA1 1Centro de Ciências Moleculares e Materiais da Universidade de Lisboa, PORTUGAL [email protected] 2Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, PORTUGAL [email protected] Abstract From the time of its discovery, photography participated in the production of evidence in many scientific fields. In the second half of the nineteenth century the quality of the photographic images as well as the discovery of easier and more reliable photographic techniques, transformed photography in a precious tool for scientists; they were now able to register in an indirect way atmospheric and magnetic phenomena. Throughout Europe, Meteorological and Astronomical Observatories had started to be equipped with photographic self-recording instruments in order to be able to register in a continuous way temperature, pressure or atmospheric electricity variations. One of these Institutions was the Kew Observatory, considered one of the best in Europe. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Infante D. Luiz Observatory of Lisbon, the Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory of the University of Coimbra, as well as the Meteorological and Magnetic Station of Oporto, owned photographic self-recording instruments for meteorological and magnetic purposes: barographs, psychrographs, electrographs and some magnetographs. Portuguese scientists established privileged scientific contacts, namely with the Director of the Kew Observatory, Balfour Stewart (1828-1887) and with William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907), among others.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Kew Observatory
    PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOOIETY OF LONDON. From November 19, 1885, to December 17, 188.t). VOL. XXXIX. LONDON: HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, i1rint.m.l in 8rb-inllr!l t.a ~.er BlljutU. MDCCCLXXXVI. History of the Kew Observatory. 07 ,; The History of the Kew Obs8rvatory." By ROBERT HENRY SOO'l'T, M.A., F.R.S., Secretary to the .Meteorological Council. Received and read June 18, 1885.* THE building, known by a misnomer of at least half a century's date as the Kew Observatory, while it is really situated at Richmond, is erected on, or close to, a part of the foundations of a much earli6f structure, the old Carthusian Priory of Jesus of Bethlehem. We learn from Crisp's "Richmond" that" the ancient hamlet of W est Sheen occupied that portion of land now known as the Richmond Gardens, or Old Deer Park, and for the site of which hamlet or village we may perhaps take with tolerable correctness the present Observa­ tory as the centre. ,j The Observatory is situated upon a low mound, which is apparently. artificial. The central part of the building stands upon vaulting con­ structed of bricks, differing in character from modern "stock" bricks, being soft, red, thinner and narrower. Similar bricks are to be found in the walls of Richmond Palace (Crisp, p. 123), and such have been mainly used in the construction of the basement of the Observatory, up to the stoue course. The basement is surrounded by three successive square rings of vaulting, of which the innermost is 5 feet wide by 8 feet high, the second 8 feet by 6 feet high, and the third#nd last 6 feet 6 inches by 5 feet high.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Francis Ronalds Father of the Electric Telegraph
    PRESS RELEASE Sir Francis Ronalds Father of the Electric Telegraph By Beverley Frances Ronalds (formerly CSIRO, Australia & The University of Western Australia, Australia) 2nd October 2016 | 650pp HB | 978-1-78326-917-4 | £40 “Electricity, may actually be employed for a more practically useful purpose than the gratification of the philosopher’s inquisitive research…” – F. Ronalds, 1823 Two hundred years ago, Sir Francis Ronalds used electricity to transmit messages over long distances. Ronalds was in his twenties when he built his telegraph in 1816 in the back garden of his family home in Hammersmith, London. Despite this, he is widely unknown and little recognized. Laying out his visions of electrical telecommunications decades before Morse, Ronalds offered his invention to the government for use in defence. When the admiralty advised him that it was “wholly unnecessary”, Ronalds turned his attention to other ideas. Ronalds went on to become one of the most respected engineers and scientists of his time. He was later the director of the Kew Observatory for a decade, where his inventions shaped the new science of systematic regional-scale meteorology. Told here for the first time on the bicentenary the telegraph, Ronalds’ story details this and other inventions — covering areas as diverse as electrical devices, weather forecasting, photography, art, mass production, and even fishing — interwoven with personal and professional tales of achievement. The author is available to write articles/features on this topic, as she has done in Physics Today, Weather, and the Chiswick Herald. For more information please contact: Karina Lewis Marketing Executive World Scientific Publishing | Imperial College Press 57 Shelton Street | London | WC2H 9HE E: [email protected] About World Scientific World Scientific Publishing Company was established in 1981 with only 5 employees in a tiny office.
    [Show full text]