Royal Observatory Greenwich
Royal Observatory Greenwich marks the moment when longitude, timekeeping, and navigation became one coordinated scientific project. Commissioned by King Charles II in 1675, the observatory’s foundation stone was laid on 10 August, and the hilltop site at Greenwich Park was chosen by Sir Christopher Wren, a former Savilian Professor of Astronomy. The Royal Observatory’s work was completed in the summer of 1676, and early on the building was often called “Flamsteed House” after its first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. Because the Prime Meridian passed through this observatory, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The observatory carries the IAU observatory code 000, the first in the list, and in a later chapter it was known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998 while the working Royal Greenwich Observatory temporarily moved south to Herstmonceux. …
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