Person Maskelyne; Nevil (1732 - 1811) Maskelyne Nevil 1732 - 1811 British Male London, England 06 October 1732 The Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London 09 February 1811

Clergyman, Church of England Astronomy Education: Westminster School; St Catharine's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1750); Trinity College, Cambridge; BA (1745), MA (1757); BD (1768), DD (1777) Career: Fellow of Trinity (1756); sent by the Royal Society to observe the Transit of Venus from St Helena (1761); Astronomer Royal (1765-1811, for 46 years); established the Nautical Almanac (1766); He and his assistants climb Perthshire's 'fairy mountain', Schiehallion, where using plumb lines and astronomical observations, they demonstrated the gravitational attraction of mountains as proposed by Isaac Newton almost a century before, and measured the degree of plumb line defection to calculate the Earth's mean density and mass. Findings published n 'Philosophical Transactions'. Rector of Shrawardine, Shropshire (1775); Rector of North Runton, Norfolk (1782) Memberships: French Institute (1802) Son of Edmund Maskelyne of Purton, Wiltshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Booth; brother-in-law of Lord Clive (FRS 1768); cousin of John Walsh (FRS 1770); grandfather of Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne (FRS 1870) Medals and prizes: Copley Medal 1775 Fellow 27/04/1758 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB References: Harold B Carter, 'The Royal Society and the Voyage of HMS Endeavour 1768-71' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 245-260 Sir William McCrea, review of Derek Howse, Nevil Maskelyne: the Seaman's Astronomer in NR 1991 vol 45 pp 118-120 Mari Williams, 'James Bradley and the Eighteenth Century "Gap" in Attempts to Measure Annual Stellar Parallax' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 83-100 W H McCrea, 'The Royal Observatory and the Study of Gravitation' in NR 1975-6 vol 30 pp 133-140, plate John R Levene, 'Nevil Maskelyne, FRS, and the Discovery of Night Myopia' in NR 1965 vol 20 pp 100-108, plate Colonel H Quill, 'John Harrison, Copley Medallist, and the £20,000 Longitude Prize' in NR 1963 vol 18 pp 146-160 L B Glyn, 'Israel Lyons: a short but starry career. The life of an eighteenth-century Jewish botanist and astronomer' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 275-305 M Croarken, 'Astronomical labourers: Maskelyne's assistants at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1765 - 1811' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 285 - 298 W P Griffith and P J T Morris, 'Charles Hatchett FRS (1765 - 1847), chemist and discoverer of niobium' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 299 - 316 Notes: Venn gives father of Maskelyne's brother William as Felix Edmund Maskelyne of Westminster ©The Royal Society International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://pictures.royalsociety.org/image-rs-9716 6 Oct 1732 - 9 Feb 1811 NA5553 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 28/03/2023 RS_NET\JonathanB Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/14808697 4ddfbf4e-5450-4258-93a2-ef410ebd2365