A year later he became usher in a school of B. Webb, the ‘celebrated writing-master.’ He next set up as schoolmaster on his own account at Portsmouth, and, after giving up this place in 1770 to become engineer to a projected expedition to Borneo, was appointed assistant to Maskelyne, then astronomer-royal, at Greenwich.
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Initially a teacher, he was appointed assistant to Maskelyne, then astronomer-royal, at the Royal Greenwich Observatory and was involved in the Schiehallion experiment.
Nevil Maskelyne | Maskelyne | John Nevil Maskelyne | Nevil Maskelyne (magician) |
In 1920 he made a headline tour of all the Stoll theatres in London and in 1923 he was asked to join one of Maskelyne's productions.
He is remembered for his calculation of the density of the earth from Nevil Maskelyne's observations on Schiehallion.
This was later changed to Point Maskelyne in honour of Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, British Astronomer Royal.
Later, when the hall came under the control of the Maskelyne family, a more settled policy was adopted and it soon became known as England's Home of Mystery.
Vancouver also named three headlands at the entrance of Observatory Inlet: Maskelyne Point, for Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, Wales Point, for William Wales, the mathematical master who sailed with James Cook, and Ramsden Point, after the famed mathematical instrument-maker Jesse Ramsden.
The Royal Society formed the Committee of Attraction to consider the matter, appointing Maskelyne, Joseph Banks and Benjamin Franklin amongst its members.
The later papers were chiefly upon meteorites, dealing in detail with the recorded circumstances of their fall, and with their mineralogical and chemical constituents; several, written in conjunction with Professor Story-Maskelyne, give accounts, published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' of the meteorites which fell at Rowton in Shropshire, at Middlesbrough, England, and at Cranbourne, Australia.