Text this colour is a link for Members only. Support us by becoming a Member for only £3 a month by joining our 'Buy Me A Coffee page'; Membership gives you access to all content and removes ads.
Text this colour links to Pages. Text this colour links to Family Trees. Place the mouse over images to see a larger image. Click on paintings to see the painter's Biography Page. Mouse over links for a preview. Move the mouse off the painting or link to close the popup.
John Flamsteed 1646-1719 is in Astronomers.
On 19th August 1646 John Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire [Map].
In July 1662 John Flamsteed (age 15) read De Sphaera Mundi.
On 12th September 1662 John Flamsteed (age 16) witnessed his first partial Eclipse of the Sun.
Around July 1663 John Flamsteed (age 16) read Art of Dialling.
In August 1665 John Flamsteed (age 18) wrote his first paper on astronomy, entitled Mathematical Essays, concerning the design, use and construction of an astronomer's quadrant, including tables for the latitude of Derby.
In September 1670 John Flamsteed (age 24) visited Cambridge and entered his name as an undergraduate at Jesus College. While it seems he never took up full residence, he was there for two months in 1674, and had the opportunity to hear Isaac Newton's (age 27) Lucasian Lectures.
On 2nd February 1675 John Flamsteed (age 28) arrived in London. He stayed at the Tower of London [Map] with Jonas Moore (age 57). He was taken by Silius Titus (age 52) to meet King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland (age 44).
On 4th March 1675 John Flamsteed (age 28) was appointed The King's Astronomical Observator with an allowance of £100 a year.
All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
On 10th August 1675 John Flamsteed (age 28) laid the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
In February 1676 John Flamsteed (age 29) was appointed Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's Diary. 10th September 1676. Dined with me Mr. Flamsted (age 30), the learned astrologer [Note. Astronomer] and mathematician, whom his Majesty (age 46) had established in the new Observatory in Greenwich Park, furnished with the choicest instruments. An honest, sincere man.
John Evelyn's Diary. 14th June 1680. Came to dine with us the Countess of Clarendon, Dr. Lloyd (age 52), Dean of Bangor (since Bishop of St. Asaph), Dr. Burnet (age 36), author of the "History of the Reformation", and my old friend, Mr. Henshaw (age 62). After dinner we all went to see the Observatory, and Mr. Flamsted (age 33), who showed us divers rare instruments, especially the great quadrant.
John Evelyn's Diary. 1st August 1683. Came to see me Mr. Flamsted (age 36), the famous astronomer, from his Observatory at Greenwich, to draw the meridian from my pendule, etc.
John Evelyn's Diary. 2nd July 1684. I went to the Observatory at Greenewich, where Mr. Flamsted (age 37) tooke his observations of the Eclipse of the Sun, now almost three parts obscured. There had been an excessive hot and dry Spring, and such a drought still continu'd as never was in my memorie.
In December 1690 John Flamsteed (age 44) observed Uranus although he mistook it for a star.
John Evelyn's Diary. 30th June 1696. I went with a select committee of the Commissioners for Greenwich Hospital [Map], and with Sir Christopher Wren (age 72), where with him I laid the first stone of the intended foundation, precisely at five o'clock in the evening, after we had dined together. Mr. Flamstead (age 49), the King's Astronomical Professor, observing the punctual time by instruments.
On 31st December 1719 John Flamsteed (age 73) died.