Flamsteed Astronomy Society

Burstow - September 21, 2002

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Flamsteed and Halley had been friends in 1675 when Halley was a 19 year old student and assisted with the set-up at Greenwich.  By 1712 Flamsteed’s opinion of Halley had altered totally and he had become very hostile - they were quite different characters: Flamsteed the introverted obsessive, and Halley much more out-going and ‘publicity seeking’.  Newton and Halley grew impatient of Flamsteed’s unwillingness to publish his observations - he was a perfectionist and never satisfied with the state of his work.  In 1712 Halley ended any hope of reconciliation with Flamsteed when he published the ‘Pirate Catalogue’ of Flamsteed’s work which Newton had effectively seized much against Flamsteed’s will.   In 1716 Flamsteed obtained a Court ruling to have the unsold copies returned to him (300 of 400 printed) and burned them in Greenwich Park.   By the time of his death in 1719 the great majority of his milestone observing program still remained unpublished, and Margaret resolved to see through the publication as a monument to her husband.  She was nobly assisted by Flamsteed’s friend and assistant Joseph Crosthwait who worked with her for many years to organise the material and arrange engraving and printing.  To her dismay, Halley had been appointed second Astronomer Royal, and he acted somewhat high-handedly, only giving her a few days to pack-up and leave the Greenwich Observatory.  Margaret knew completion of Flamsteed’s catalogue would be very expensive and to raise money, and spite Halley, she sold everything in the Observatory - furniture, instruments, and clocks.  When challenged by the Admiralty she successfully argued that it had all been paid for by Flamsteed or given to him personally by Jonas Moore, and was theirs to sell as they pleased.  Halley had not even a chair to sit on.

Eddie leaves a record of our visit

(photo MD)

Admiring the interior

(photo RD)

Steve and Jane

(photo MD)

The Old Rectory (photo RD)

“Say Cheese!”

(Can’t recall who took this!)