| Description | Giving a brief history of the publication of the Nautical Almanac and the state of astronomical ephemerides of other nations. Britain should be active and the Nautical Almanac Office is best placed to tackle the arithmetical questions involved. In that office, Dr. Cowell is a mathematician of excellence, but the activities of the office are too restricted - the office should investigate problems of dynamical astronomy. An appointment of an assistant is required, such as those at the Greenwich Observatory.
Signed by George Howard Darwin, Joseph Larmor, Hugh Frank Newall Newall (Royal Society members of the committee) and William Henry Mahoney Christie, Frank Watson Dyson, and David Gill (Royal Astronomical Society members of the committee). |