<i>Experiments in Industrial Organization.</i>W. J. Ashley , Edward Cadbury

Gillin, J. L.

doi:10.1086/212207

Cited by 1 publication

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“…After graduating as senior wrangler in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos examinations of 1823, Airy had been Cambridge's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 and took responsibility for the University Observatory in 1828. 20 6 Edward J. Gillin a highly disciplined system of astronomical observation, likened to a 'factory mentality', to secure accuracy. 21 Airy agreed that the tremors of fast-moving trains would be 'particularly seen in the observations by reflexion in a trough of mercury, which observations, for the accuracy of modern astronomy, are quite indispensable'.…”

Section: The Greenwich and Gravesend Railway 1835-1836mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…21 Airy agreed that the tremors of fast-moving trains would be 'particularly seen in the observations by reflexion in a trough of mercury, which observations, for the accuracy of modern astronomy, are quite indispensable'. 22 On 9 January 1836 the Admiralty ordered an investigation into the effects of railway vibrations on astronomical observations; two weeks later, Airy conducted experiments along the existing Greenwich Railway near Croydon. 23 The line was not yet in use, Tremoring transits but the company agreed to run trains for these observations after Airy had claimed it impossible to know the impact of vibrations without the use of full-sized locomotives.…”

Section: The Greenwich and Gravesend Railway 1835-1836mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was followed by the New Library for observatory paperwork, built between 1878 and 1882, and the New Physical Observatory in the 1890s. 8 Though architecturally constrained and erratically planned, the theme of the observatory in this time was of growth. With railways employing Greenwich time in the 1840s, post offices conveying it from 1872, and its adoption as 'legal time' in 1880, the institution's influence expanded too.…”

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“…13 For example, the regulation of track to a gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches passed into law in 1846. 14 Yet for all this, British liberalism and free trade were actively celebrated, with economic and political freedoms loudly proclaimed. Within this, the place of science was important.…”

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Tremoring transits: railways, the Royal Observatory and the capitalist challenge to Victorian astronomical science

Gillin¹

2019

Br J Hist Sci

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Britain's nineteenth-century railway companies traditionally play a central role in histories of the spread of standard Greenwich time. This relationship at once seems to embody a productive relationship between science and capitalism, with regulated time essential to the formation of a disciplined industrial economy. In this narrative, it is not the state, but capitalistic private commerce which fashioned a national time system. However, as this article demonstrates, the collaboration between railway companies and the Royal Greenwich Observatory was far from harmonious. While railways did employ the accurate time the observatory provided, they were also more than happy to compromise the astronomical institution's ability to take the accurate celestial observations that such time depended on. Observing astronomical transits required the use of troughs of mercury to reflect images of stars, but the construction of a railway too near to the observatory threatened to cause vibrations which would make such readings impossible. Through debates over proposed railway lines near the observatory, it becomes clear how important government protection from private interests was to preserving astronomical standards. This article revises our understanding of the role of railway companies in the dissemination of standard time and argues that state intervention was essential to preserving Victorian British astronomical science.

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Section: The Greenwich and Gravesend Railway 1835-1836mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Greenwich and Gravesend Railway 1835-1836mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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