History - Observatory Science Centre & Museum

The Isaac Newton Telescope

01/08/2025

History

Read about the Isaac Newton Telescope, previously based at Herstmonceux. Sir Isaac Newton was born on 4 January 1643 at Woolsthorpe Manor House near Grantham, Lincolnshire. He was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in

History of The Royal Observatory

01/08/2025

History

From Greenwich to Herstmonceux The Royal Observatory was founded by King Charles II on 4th March 1675 when John Flamsteed was appointed by royal warrant to become ‘The King’s Astronomical Observator’, the first Astronomer Royal, with an allowance of £100 a year. About a year later Flamsteed was given a stipend of just £500 to

Proving Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

10/07/2025

History

Historic glassware exhibited at the Observatory includes telescope mirrors and a lens used in one of the 20th century’s pivotal scientific events – the successful testing of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, during a total eclipse of the Sun on May 29, 1919. Einstein’s bizarre prediction was that space becomes curved when there is matter

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The 38″ Congo Schmidt

The Thompson 26-inch refractor

The 13-inch Astrographic Refractor

The 34-inch Hewitt Camera