Saturday 28 February 2009

Wednesday February 28, 1894

Inspector Summer called about the above letter, which he did not consider serious. Mr Crosley of the Kentish Mercury called & I gave him information about new instruments & buildings for an article on the Obsy.Mr Turner resigned his post as Chief Assistant handing over his keys to Mr Dyson, his successor.


William Christie, Astronomer Royal


Mr Turner resigned his Office of Chief Assistant


H.H. Turner, Chief Assistant

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Autograph of Frank Dyson on ROG notepaper, from Wikimedia Commons.

RH says..... Despite having been Oxford's Savilian Professor of Astronomy since the new year, Turner only now formally resigned his post. Likewise, Dyson had been learning the job at Greenwich for time, but only gets his keys to Greenwich Park and the Observatory now. Meanwhile, the police decide they are not concerned about the bomb threat communicated in the letter received on 27 February, and Christie has an opportunity to show off his innovations to the press. It seems that the newspapers were important to the Observatory at this time, when a lot of public money was being spent on new kinds of research at the ROG rather than just the utilitarian work it had traditionally undertaken.

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