Starting at 12.45 on Saturday 6 December, from the Portuguese Cannon, Professor Lawrence will tell us about early developments with the Astronomical Institution, the construction of the Royal Observatory, the classic work of Thomas Henderson and Charles Piazzi Smyth, the time ball and time gun, the entrepreneurial Maria Short, and the City Observatory. The event will be centred on the latter (the Collective Gallery site), and include other key features on Calton Hill.
Andy Lawrence is the Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, based at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill. His research concentrates on quasars and the supermassive black holes they contain, but he also specializes in survey astronomy, space environmentalism, and the history of astronomy in Edinburgh.
Please contact <chair@caltonhilltrust.org> if you are interested in coming. The walk will be free for members, non-members will be asked to make a £10 donation on arrival.