Durham University Observatory

The Durham University Observatory is a weather observatory owned and operated by the University of Durham. It is a Grade II listed building[1] located at Potters Bank, Durham and was founded in 1839 initially as an astronomical and meteorological observatory (owing to the need to calculate refraction from the air temperature) by Temple Chevallier, until 1937 when the observatory moved purely to meteorological recording.[2]

Durham Observatory
Observatory front view
Durham University Observatory is located in Durham, England
Durham University Observatory
Location within Durham, England
General information
TypeObservatory
LocationPotters Bank, Durham
Coordinates54.768°N 1.586°W / 54.768; -1.586
Construction started1839
Completed1840
OwnerDurham University
Design and construction
Architect(s)Anthony Salvin

The observatory's current director is Professor Tim Burt of the Geography Department, who is also Master of Hatfield College.

After the Radcliffe Observatory, Durham has the longest unbroken meteorological record of any University in the UK, with records dating back to the 1840s,[3] principally due to the work of Gordon Manley in creating a temperature record that would be comparable to Oxford's.[4] At present the observatory contributes to the Met Office's forecasts by providing automated records.

Former observers
  • 1840 – 1841 Temple Chevallier[5]
  • 1841 John Stewart Browne[5]
  • 1842 – 1846 Arthur Beanlands[5]
  • 1846 – 1849 Robert Anchor Thompson[5]
  • 1849 Le Jeune[5]
  • 1849 Robert Healey Blakey (acting)[5]
  • 1849 – 1852 Richard Carrington[5]
  • 1852 – 1853 William Ellis[5]
  • 1854 – 1855 Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Rümker[5]
  • 1856 – 1863 Albert Marth[5]
  • 1863 – 1864 Edward Gleadowe Marshall[5]
  • 1865 – 1867 Mondeford Reginald Dolman[5]
  • 1867 – 1874 John Isaac Plummer[5]
  • 1874 – 1885 Gabriel Alphonsus Goldney[5]
  • 1885 – 1900 Henry James Carpenter[5]
  • 1900 – 1919 Frederick Charles Hampshire Carpenter[5]
  • 1919 – 1938 Frank Sargent[6]
  • 1938 – 1939 E. Gluckauf[7]
  • 1940 – 1945 A. Beecroft[7]
  • 1945 – 1948 L. S. Joyce[7]
  • 1949 – 1951 K. F. and G. A. Chackett[7]
  • 1951 – 1957 J. Musgrave[7]
  • 1957 – 1968 F. and D. Glockling[7]
  • 1969 – 1990 A. Warner[7]

References
  1. "Durham Observatory". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 3 October 2009.
  2. Documentation Preserved – Spr. 1998 Archived 12 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Weather > Home ( DNN 3.0.12 ) Archived 19 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "The History". Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2008. The Observatory's History
  5. "Durham University: Earlier Foundations and Present Colleges, Fowler, Joseph Thomas (1904)" (PDF). Kessinger Publishing. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  6. Rochester, G. D. (1980). "The History of Astronomy in the University of Durham from 1835 TO 1939". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 21: 369. Bibcode:1980QJRAS..21..369R.
  7. Kenworthy, J. M.; Burt, T. P.; Cox, N. J. (2007). "Durham University Observatory and its meteorological record". Weather. 62 (10): 265–269. Bibcode:2007Wthr...62..265K. doi:10.1002/wea.86.
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