Nevil Maskelyne

Nevil Maskelyne was born in London, England on October 6^th, 1732. His full title was Revered Dr. Nevil Maskelyne. His interest in Astronomy began when he attended Westminster School after the eclipse of July 25, 1748. He entered Trinity College in Cambridge in 1749. When he graduated he was ordained as minister. In 1758 he was admitted into the Royal Society. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He married Sophia Rose and had one child named Margaret. He was dispatched on the island of St. Helena to observe the transit of Venus. Though bad weather prevented any useful observations Maskelyne created the method of measurement of longitude. Maskelyne published the lunar method for determining longitude in The British Mariner’s Guide. In 1765 he was appointed Astronomer Royal. He wrote his first volume of Nautical Almanac in 1766. He later created a measurement of latitude and proposed the Schiehallion experiment to the Royal Society to determine Earth’s density using a plumb line. Schiehallion, the mountain, was chosen due to its conical shape so its volume could be determined accurately. In result of his observations it was later found that the Earth’s density is approximately 4.5 times that of water. In 1775 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society for his work. Nevil Maskelyne died July 20^th, 1811 in Greenwich, England.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevil_Maskelyne

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Maskelyne.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/367964/Nevil-Maskelyne