William Wales (astronomer)
Encyclopedia
William Wales was a British
mathematician
and astronomer
.
(near the West Yorkshire town of Wakefield
) that year. As a youth, according to the historian John Cawte Beaglehole
, Wales travelled south in the company of a Mr Holroyd, who became a plumber in the service of George III. By the mid 1760s, Wales was contributing to The Ladies' Diary
, perhaps an 18th Century equivalent of New Scientist
. In 1765 he married Mary Green, sister of the astronomer Charles Green
.
In 1765, Wales was employed by the Astronomer Royal
Nevil Maskelyne
as a computer
, calculating ephemerides
that could be used to establish the longitude of a ship, for Maskelyne's Nautical Almanac
.
to make observations of the June 1769 transit of Venus
, which would lead to an accurate determination of the astronomical unit
(the distance between the Earth and the Sun), Wales and an assistant, Joseph Dymond, were sent to Prince of Wales Fort
on Hudson Bay
to observe the transit, with the pair being offered a reward of £200 for a successful conclusion to their expedition. Other Royal Society expeditions associated with the 1769 transit were Cook's voyage of 1768-71
, with observations of the transit being made at Tahiti
, and the expedition of Jeremiah Dixon
and William Bayly to Norway
.
Due to winter pack ice making the journey impossible during the winter months, Wales and Dymond were obliged to begin their journey in the summer of 1768, setting sail on June 23. Ironically, Wales when volunteering to make a journey to observe the transit, had requested that he be sent to a more hospitable location. The party arrived at Prince of Wales Fort in August 1768.
Due to the scarcity of building materials at the chosen site, the party had to bring not only astronomical instruments, but the materials required for the construction of living quarters. On their arrival, the pair constructed two "Portable Observatories", which had been designed by the engineer John Smeaton
. Construction work occupied the pair for a month and then they settled in for the long winter season.
When the day of the transit finally arrived, the pair were lucky to have a reasonably clear day and they were able to observe the transit at around local midday. However, the two astronomers' results for the time of first contact, when Venus first appeared to cross the disc of the Sun, differed by 11 seconds; the discrepancy was to prove a cause of upset for Wales.
They were to stay in Canada for another three months before making the return voyage to England, thus becoming the first scientists to spend the winter at Hudson Bay. On his return, Wales was still upset by the difference in the observations and refused to present his findings to the Royal Society until March 1770; however, his report of the expedition, including the astronomical results as well as other climatic and botanical observations, met with approval and he was invited by James Cook to join his next expedition.
to accompany James Cook
on his second voyage of 1772–75, replacing the astronomer (and Wales' brother-in-law) Charles Green, who had died during the return leg of Cook's first voyage. A major part of Wales' duties was to test Larcum Kendall's
K1 chronometer, based on the H4 of John Harrison
.
at Christ's Hospital
and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1776. Amongst Wales' pupils at Christ's Hospital were Samuel Taylor Coleridge
and Charles Lamb
. It has been suggested that Wales' accounts of his journeys might have influenced Coleridge when writing his poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
.
, George Vancouver
, who had studied astronomy under Wales as a Midshipman on the HMS Resolution during Cook's second circumnavigation, named Wales Point, a cape at the entrance to Portland Inlet
on the coast of British Columbia
, in honour of his tutor; the name was later applied to the nearby Wales Island
by an official at the British Hydrographic Office
. In his journal, Vancouver recorded his gratitude and indebtedness to Wales's tutelage "for that information which has enabled me to traverse and delineate these lonely regions."
Wales featured on a New Hebrides
(now Vanuatu
) postage stamp of 1974 commemorating the 200th anniversary of Cook's discovery of the islands.
The asteroid 15045 Walesdymond
, discovered in 1998, was named after Wales and Dymond.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
Early life
Wales was born around 1734 to John and Sarah Wales and was baptized in WarmfieldWarmfield cum Heath
Warmfield cum Heath is a civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 844. Until 1974 it formed part of Wakefield Rural District....
(near the West Yorkshire town of Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
) that year. As a youth, according to the historian John Cawte Beaglehole
John Cawte Beaglehole
John Cawte Beaglehole, OM, CMG was a New Zealand historian whose greatest scholastic achievement was the editing of James Cook’s three journals of exploration, together with the writing of an acclaimed biography of Cook, published posthumously...
, Wales travelled south in the company of a Mr Holroyd, who became a plumber in the service of George III. By the mid 1760s, Wales was contributing to The Ladies' Diary
The Ladies' Diary
The Ladies' Diary: or, Woman's Almanack appeared annually in London from 1704 to 1841. It featured material relating to calendars etc. including sunrise and sunset times and phases of the moon, as well as important dates , and a chronology of remarkable events.The subtitle indicated its serious...
, perhaps an 18th Century equivalent of New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
. In 1765 he married Mary Green, sister of the astronomer Charles Green
Charles Green (astronomer)
Charles Green was a British astronomer, noted for his assignment by the Royal Society in 1768 to the expedition sent to the Pacific Ocean in order to observe the transit of Venus and the transit of Mercury, aboard James Cook's Endeavour.A farmer's son, he became assistant to the Astronomer Royal...
.
In 1765, Wales was employed by the Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the second is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834....
Nevil Maskelyne
Nevil Maskelyne
The Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne FRS was the fifth English Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811.-Biography:...
as a computer
Human computer
The term "computer", in use from the mid 17th century, meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available....
, calculating ephemerides
Ephemeris
An ephemeris is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times. Different kinds of ephemerides are used for astronomy and astrology...
that could be used to establish the longitude of a ship, for Maskelyne's Nautical Almanac
The Nautical Almanac
The Nautical Almanac has been the familiar name for a series of official British almanacs published under various titles since the first issue of The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris, for 1767: this was the first nautical almanac ever to contain data dedicated to the convenient...
.
1769 transit of Venus and wintering at Hudson Bay
As part of the plans of the Royal SocietyRoyal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
to make observations of the June 1769 transit of Venus
Transit of Venus
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...
, which would lead to an accurate determination of the astronomical unit
Astronomical unit
An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
(the distance between the Earth and the Sun), Wales and an assistant, Joseph Dymond, were sent to Prince of Wales Fort
Prince of Wales Fort
The Prince of Wales Fort is a historic fort on Hudson Bay across the Churchill River from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.-History:The European history of this area starts with the discovery of Hudson Bay in 1610. The area was recognized as important in the fur trade and of potential importance for...
on Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
to observe the transit, with the pair being offered a reward of £200 for a successful conclusion to their expedition. Other Royal Society expeditions associated with the 1769 transit were Cook's voyage of 1768-71
First voyage of James Cook
The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771...
, with observations of the transit being made at Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, and the expedition of Jeremiah Dixon
Jeremiah Dixon
Jeremiah Dixon was an English surveyor and astronomer who is perhaps best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason-Dixon line....
and William Bayly to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Due to winter pack ice making the journey impossible during the winter months, Wales and Dymond were obliged to begin their journey in the summer of 1768, setting sail on June 23. Ironically, Wales when volunteering to make a journey to observe the transit, had requested that he be sent to a more hospitable location. The party arrived at Prince of Wales Fort in August 1768.
Due to the scarcity of building materials at the chosen site, the party had to bring not only astronomical instruments, but the materials required for the construction of living quarters. On their arrival, the pair constructed two "Portable Observatories", which had been designed by the engineer John Smeaton
John Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
. Construction work occupied the pair for a month and then they settled in for the long winter season.
When the day of the transit finally arrived, the pair were lucky to have a reasonably clear day and they were able to observe the transit at around local midday. However, the two astronomers' results for the time of first contact, when Venus first appeared to cross the disc of the Sun, differed by 11 seconds; the discrepancy was to prove a cause of upset for Wales.
They were to stay in Canada for another three months before making the return voyage to England, thus becoming the first scientists to spend the winter at Hudson Bay. On his return, Wales was still upset by the difference in the observations and refused to present his findings to the Royal Society until March 1770; however, his report of the expedition, including the astronomical results as well as other climatic and botanical observations, met with approval and he was invited by James Cook to join his next expedition.
Captain Cook's second circumnavigation voyage
He was appointed by the Board of LongitudeBoard of Longitude
The Board of Longitude was the popular name for the Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea. It was a British Government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended to encourage innovators to solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.-Origins:Navigators and...
to accompany James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
on his second voyage of 1772–75, replacing the astronomer (and Wales' brother-in-law) Charles Green, who had died during the return leg of Cook's first voyage. A major part of Wales' duties was to test Larcum Kendall's
Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall was a British watchmaker.-Commission:The Board of Longitude asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrison's ingenious fourth model of a clock useful for navigation at sea...
K1 chronometer, based on the H4 of John Harrison
John Harrison
John Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
.
Later life
Following his return, Wales became Master of the Royal Mathematical SchoolRoyal Mathematical School
Royal Mathematical School is a branch of Christ's Hospital, founded by Charles II. It is currently Christ's Hospital's Maths Department.-History:...
at Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...
and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1776. Amongst Wales' pupils at Christ's Hospital were Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
and Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb . Lamb has been referred to by E.V...
. It has been suggested that Wales' accounts of his journeys might have influenced Coleridge when writing his poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and was published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss...
.
Recognition of his work
During his voyage of 1791-95Vancouver Expedition
The Vancouver Expedition was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, touched five continents and changed the course of history for the indigenous nations and several European empires and their...
, George Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
, who had studied astronomy under Wales as a Midshipman on the HMS Resolution during Cook's second circumnavigation, named Wales Point, a cape at the entrance to Portland Inlet
Portland Inlet
Portland Inlet is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, approximately 55 kilometers north of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It joins the Chatham Sound opposite the Dixon Entrance. It is 40 kilometers long and as much as 13 kilometers wide...
on the coast of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, in honour of his tutor; the name was later applied to the nearby Wales Island
Wales Island (British Columbia)
Wales Island is an island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, situated east of the Dixon Entrance at the entrance to Portland Inlet. in area, Wales Island is north of the port city of Prince Rupert, and south-east of Ketchikan, Alaska....
by an official at the British Hydrographic Office
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is an organisation within the UK government responsible for providing navigational and other hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements...
. In his journal, Vancouver recorded his gratitude and indebtedness to Wales's tutelage "for that information which has enabled me to traverse and delineate these lonely regions."
Wales featured on a New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
(now Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
) postage stamp of 1974 commemorating the 200th anniversary of Cook's discovery of the islands.
The asteroid 15045 Walesdymond
15045 Walesdymond
15045 Walesdymond is a main-belt asteroid discovered on December 10, 1998 by Spacewatch at Kitt Peak. The asteroid was named after the astronomers William Wales and his assistant Joseph Dymond, who were sent on an expedition by the Royal Society to Hudson Bay to observe the 1769 transit of...
, discovered in 1998, was named after Wales and Dymond.
Sources
- Who's Who in Science (Marquis Who's Who Inc, Chicago Ill. 1968) ISBN 0-8379-1001-3
- Francis Lucian Reid “William Wales (ca. 1734–1798): playing the astronomer”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39 (2008) 170–175
External links
- Extracts of William Wales's Journal kept on his voyage aboard HMS Resolution
- The Original Astronomical Observations, Made in the Course of a Voyage...in the Resolution and Adventure – Results of Wales' work published in 1777
- Article on Wales compiled for Captain Cook Society
- The Transit of William Wales Educational comic book produced by the Hudson's Bay Company for Canadian high school students