Maskelyne was educated at Westminster School, where he received a good grounding in the classics. During his vacations, he was tutored in writing and arithmetic.
College/University
Gallery of Nevil Maskelyne
Cambridge CB2 1TQ, United Kingdom
Maskelyne furthered these studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1754 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as the seventh wrangler. He later earned there his Master of Arts in 1757, Bachelor of Divinity in 1768 and Doctor of Divinity in 1777.
Career
Achievements
Membership
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Nevil Maskelyne was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
French Academy of Sciences
Nevil Maskelyne was a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Nevil Maskelyne was a member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Royal Society
Nevil Maskelyne was a member of the Royal Society.
Royal Society of Edinburgh
Nevil Maskelyne was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Maskelyne was educated at Westminster School, where he received a good grounding in the classics. During his vacations, he was tutored in writing and arithmetic.
Maskelyne furthered these studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1754 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as the seventh wrangler. He later earned there his Master of Arts in 1757, Bachelor of Divinity in 1768 and Doctor of Divinity in 1777.
Track of His Majesty's armed Brig Lion, from England to Davis's Streights and Labrador : with observations for determining the longitude by sun and moon and error of common reckoning
An Answer to a Pamphlet Entitled a Narrative of Facts, Lately Published by Mr. Thomas Mudge, Junior, Relating to Some Time-Keepers Constructed by His Father Mr. Thomas Mudge
Nevil Maskelyne was a British astronomer. He is noted for his contribution to the science of navigation.
Background
Nevil Maskelyne was born on October 6, 1732, in London, City of London, United Kingdom to the family of Edmund Maskelyne of Purton in Wiltshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Booth. He was the third son to an ancient Wiltshire family that probably originated in Normandy. Maskelyne's father died when he was 12, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. His mother died in 1748.
Education
Maskelyne was educated at Westminster School, where he received a good grounding in the classics. During his vacations, he was tutored in writing and arithmetic. He enjoyed reading and was fascinated by optics and astronomy, through which he was led to the study of mathematics as an indispensable tool for the proper understanding of these related sciences. Having mastered in a few months the elements of geometry and algebra, he then applied this knowledge to other aspects of natural philosophy, particularly mechanics, pneumatics, and hydrostatics. He furthered these studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1754 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as the seventh wrangler. He later earned there his Master of Arts in 1757, Bachelor of Divinity in 1768 and Doctor of Divinity in 1777.
After being ordained in 1755, Maskelyne accepted a curacy near London; there, rather than seeking a livelihood in the Anglican Church, he devoted many of his leisure hours to assisting the astronomer royal, James Bradley, in computing tables of refraction. He was elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1758 and of the Royal Society the following year.
On Bradley’s recommendation, Maskelyne was sent in 1761 by the British government to the island of St. Helena to observe the transit of Venus, from which the distance of the earth from the sun can be deduced. Unfortunately, clouds prevented his observing the time of emersion of this planet; and an error in his observations of the meridian zenith distance of the bright star Sirius - due to a fault in suspending his zenith sector - prevented him from testing the supposition that it exhibited a small but measurable parallax.
Maskelyne was more successful with observations made during the voyage for the purpose of investigating the reliability of the lunar distance method of determining longitude at sea. The lunar tables that he employed were those of Tobias Mayer, transmitted to London in 1755 to support his application for a large parliamentary bounty offered to “such person or persons as shall discover the longitude at sea.” The instrument used for making the necessary angular measurements of lunar distances and celestial altitudes was a reflecting quadrant of the type invented by John Hadley in 1731 and already in widespread use among seamen. In his book The British Mariners Guide published in London in 1763, he gave detailed instructions on how to use and rectify this instrument, and examples of how to apply the lunar tables in calculating the longitude.
A prime objective of Maskelyne’s second voyage, to Bridgetown in Barbados in 1764, was to assess the accuracy of the rival chronometer method of longitude determination, championed by John Harrison, before a decision could be made on its claim for a parliamentary award; this necessitated Maskelyne’s making astronomical observations to establish the longitude of Barbados. He was also ordered by the Board of Longitude to investigate the comparative accuracy of two additional means of longitude determination based upon observations of the satellites of Jupiter and on occultations of stars by the moon. He was further entrusted with the testing of a marine chair designed by a certain Mr. Christopher Irwin, which he found to be quite impracticable for assisting observations made at sea.
At a memorable meeting of the Board of Longitude (9 February 1765), at which the sums to be awarded to Harrison and Mayer were specified, Maskelyne, who had just been appointed astronomer royal, arranged for four naval officers to be in attendance to testify to the general utility of the lunar-distance method for finding longitude at sea to within 1° or 60 miles. He also presented a memorial in which he proposed that the practical application of the method could be facilitated by the preparation of a nautical ephemeris with auxiliary tables and explanations. These plans crystallized less than two years later with the publication of the Nautical Almanac for 1767. Maskelyne also assumed the responsibility of supervising the printing and publishing of Mayer’s lunar theory (1767) and his solar and lunar tables (1770), and he prepared “Requisite Tables” (1767) for eliminating the effects of astronomical refraction and parallax from the observed lunar distances. He continued to superintend the ever-increasing work of the computers and comparers of the annual Nautical Almanac until his death more than forty years later.
This periodical is undoubtedly Maskelyne’s greatest monument to astronomical science. It is still a useful navigational aid even though the lunar distance tables themselves became obsolete by the beginning of the twentieth century, mainly as a result of the exceptionally high degree of reliability of chronometers.
Among Maskelyne’s onerous duties at the Royal Observatory was to assess the performances of a considerable number of chronometers submitted for an official trial by other pioneers of watchmaking - Thomas Mudge, John Arnold, Josiah Emery, and Thomas Earnshaw. The controversial results of these comparative tests, which stemmed from an ambiguity in defining “accuracy” and “error” in the case of chronometers, had the desirable effect of establishing a consistent system of rating and the introduction in 1823 of “trial-” or “test-numbers,” which were modified by George Airy in 1840 to a system that is still used.
In a famous experiment of 1774, Maskelyne attempted to determine the earth’s density from measurements of the deviation of a plumb line produced by the gravitational attraction of Mt. Schiehallion, in Scotland. By observing the slight difference in the zenith distances of certain stars at two observing stations on the north and south faces of the mountain, and making due allowance for the effect of their latitude difference by means of geodetic measurements, Maskelyne identified the residual displacement of 11.7” with the sum of the deviations in the direction of the vertical to the earth’s surface on each side of this conveniently symmetrical mountain. This was the first convincing experimental demonstration of the universality of gravitation, in the sense that it operates not only between the bodies of the solar system but also between the elements of the matter of which each body is composed. With the aid of his friend Charles Hutton and John Playfair, who estimated the density of the rocks and total mass of that mountain relative to the mass of the earth, Maskelyne concluded the mean density of the earth to be between 4.867 and 4.559 times that of water, a result that compares quite well with the presently accepted value of 5.52.
Nevil Maskelyne was a clergyman of the Church of England.
Views
Maskelyne believed that it was necessary to make astronomical observations in addition to and in spite of the marine chronometer. Maskelyne’s epoch-making work was in producing the Nautical Almanac to make the task more practicable from the mariner’s point of view.
Membership
Maskelyne was honoured for his contributions by many societies and academies throughout the world. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Paris Academy of Sciences, the Hanover Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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United States
French Academy of Sciences
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France
Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
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Russia
Royal Society
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United Kingdom
Royal Society of Edinburgh
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United Kindgom
Hanover Academy of Sciences
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Germany
Personality
As to his character Nevil Maskelyne is described as urbane, shrewd and likable (especially if one happened to be on his side).The evidence from the large body of correspondence that has survived proves that pompous and a bit of a bore as he might have seemed to some, Maskelyne was almost universally liked and admired by his contemporaries - except perhaps by some chronometer makers and their families. The reputation that survives in some popular twentieth-century books of Maskelyne as the evil genius who tried to deprive the poor illiterate carpenter of his just rewards-out of personal spite and because of his own involvement in the rival lunar-distance method of finding longitude-was certainly not one that was held generally in his own day, nor is it in any way justified by modern research: he was a member of the board of longitude, appointed by parliament to advise on the award of large sums of public money; there is no evidence whatsoever that he at any time abused his position as a public servant, still less lined his own pocket.
Connections
On 21 August 1784 Maskelyne married Sophia Rose, then of St Andrew Holborn, Middlesex. Their only child, Margaret was the mother of Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne professor of mineralogy at Oxford.