Tue 30 Mar
|RMG Lecture Theatre
Jeremiah Horrocks, Samuel Foster, Nathaniel Nye - A Detective Story
by Mike Frost Jeremiah Horrocks was the first man to predict and then observe a Transit of Venus, in November 1639. It’s well known that he contacted two other people, to ask them to look out for the transit. DETAILS ON HOW TO BOOK FOR THIS EVENT ARE EMAILED TO MEMBERS IN THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Time & Location
30 Mar 2027, 19:00 – 20:30
RMG Lecture Theatre, Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF, UK
About the Event
Synopsis:
Jeremiah Horrocks was the first man to predict and then observe a Transit of Venus, in November 1639. It’s well known that he contacted two other people, to ask them to look out for the transit. Horrocks’s brother, Jonas, was unable to see the spectacle from Toxteth, Lancashire, because of cloud. William Crabtree, of Broughton, Manchester, had more luck, and was able to corroborate Horrocks’s observations from Much Hoole, Lancashire.
It is much less well known that Jeremiah Horrocks attempted to warn a third astronomer – Samuel Foster, who had been Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London. When I started to research the life of Foster, I found out that he was part of a group of pioneering astronomers active in the Midlands of England in the years around the English Civil War.
This talk is about Samuel Foster and his fellow observers – John Twysden,…