This was later changed to Point Maskelyne in honour of Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, British Astronomer Royal.
They were named by Captain Cook after the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne as he sailed north from Port Resolution on Tanna in HMS Resolution in late 1774.
Nevil Shute | Nevil Maskelyne | Maskelyne | John Nevil Maskelyne | Robbie Nevil | Nevil Maskelyne (magician) | Nevil Dede | Henry Nevil Payne | C'est La Vie (Robbie Nevil song) |
Through December and January the comet was observed by Nevil Maskelyne at the Greenwich Observatory and by Charles Messier at the Paris Observatory.
He was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne.
The term lunatic was also used by supporters of John Harrison and his marine chronometer method of determining longitude to refer to proponents of the Method of Lunar Distances, advanced by Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne.
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.
He is remembered for his calculation of the density of the earth from Nevil Maskelyne's observations on Schiehallion.