Edmund Neville Nevill
Encyclopedia
Edmund Neison FRS whose real name was Edmund Neville Nevill, wrote a key text in selenography
called The Moon and the condition and configuration of its surface and later set up an observatory in Durban
, Natal Province
. He also wrote a popular book on astronomy
some years after immigrating to Durban.
, England
on 27 August 1849 and educated at Harrow School
and New College, Oxford
. During the Franco-Prussian War
he volunteered with French forces and served with Marshal McMahon.
and worked as parliamentary reporter to The Standard and also as theatre critic, but his interests included astronomy and chemistry. Nevill has the means to set up a private observatory in Hampstead
and became known as amateur with a special interest in the Moon
. Nevill was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
under the name Edmund Neison, 'having the curious idea that it was derogatory to the holder of an ancient name to make a career in science'. He reverted to Nevill in 1888 'in accordance with the conditions of a will'. RAS paper in June 1873 argued for the existence of a lunar atmosphere and later paper defined (low) limits for the density of such an atmosphere.
In 1876 he produced The Moon described as a translation, extension and updating of Madler. Used many observations and sketches by Webb and other amateurs. The volume 'served its purpose of stimulating interest in selenography'. Nevill was a founder of the Selenographical Society with William Radcliffe Birt
, and from 1878 published in Selenographical Journal. This book is still prized by amateur selenographers and is quoted extensively by Wilkins and Moore.
Nevill also became a Member of the Chemical Society
having agitated in early '70s for a Chemical Institute. At meeting of Chemical Society on 26 April 1876 committee formed and Neison was one of the Fellows of the Institute of Chemistry, serving on the Council from 1877 to 1900. Later acted as a Government Chemist
in Natal
.
found fluctuations both irregular and long period, and researched early observations of Moon. In 1878 Newcomb reviewed all observations and found that Hansen's fit back to 1750 worked because all earlier results were ignored. Finding if terms had been omitted from Hansen's theory was a major research issue at the time. Neison/Nevill, in a paper published in the RAS March 1877, confirmed a Jupiter
term discovered by Simon Newcomb in 1876 - Neison's coefficient is accurate but an associated long period term coefficient is off by factor of 10. In 1877 Nevill produces a memoir developing analytical theory with an eye to less labour involved in producing tables. Memoir 'showed Nevill to possess considerable powers of Mathematical manipulation'. Later: Ernest W. Brown derived a new theory from first principles - much of Neison's later work in Durban observing Moon positions and comparing with theory is left high and dry and not published due to financial constraints.
occurred on 8 December 1874 and 6 December 1882. The Transit of Venus Commission set up stations to observe the event. Durban was considered as a possible station but rejected because of tendency to cloudy weather in Natal during December season. Establishing an observatory in Durban was of interest to Harry Escombe, a local politician in the imperial government established by the British regime. David Gill, Astronomer Royal to the Cape, agreed and £350 voted by Corporation of Durban plus £500 by Legislative Council to found an observatory. A Grubb 8 inch aperture equatorial refracting telescope
presented by Escombe and a 3 inch transit instrument was purchased by the government. A Dent sidereal clock was lent by the Venus Commission. Gill telegrammed Nevill to offer post of Government Astronomer, and Nevill sailed at 24 hours' notice on 27 October and arrived 27 November 1882.
State of observatory: Nevill took possession of Observatory 1 December 1882 and found a thick coat of paint covered dome machinery making it immovable, the telescope had been erected prior to dome and had suffered from salt air and moved with difficulty, the polarising solar eyepiece was incompatible with telescope or accessories. The transit instrument was in Cape Town so a telegraph was used to relay time signal from Cape Observatory. Still, observations of the transit (in fine weather conditions) were obtained 5 days later.
Later observatory work: Observations were made to check Moon theory: determination of parallactic inequality, study of effect of limb irregularities on apparent place of Moon, effect of irradiation on apparent diameter; and determination of real libration
of Moon. Also weather observations, time service, comets and 'temporary phenomena'. Staff included Nevill, assistant, and later 'four ladies were added as astronomical computers'. Nevill published a major paper on corrections to Hansen's Tables - using 1500 observations of the Moon to derive corrections for arbitrary values assumed by Hansen for coefficients. Nevill proposed two ambitious projects: mathematical investigation of terms of long period resulting from planetary action and the actual calculation of every term of long period exceeding a maximum amplitude of 0.1 arc sec. Lack of library access to Hansen, Poisson and Delaunay hampered progress.
Tidal work: In 1885 for Natal Harbour Board using methods devised by British Association Committee. Tide tables for Natal were produced in 1888. Paul Huges (UK) has researched the letters from Nevill to Darwin on tide observations as part of a larger body of work on the history of tidal theory in the nineteenth century. Nevill's letters to Gill and Darwin are in archives in UK including the Cambridge University archives.
Money problems: 1887 no funds available for salaries. 'The greater part of the work of the Observatory would have had to be suspended, had it not been for the zealous assistance of four ladies'. Political changes in the Legislative Assembly occurred throughout this period, and in 1888 an assistant was appointed again, and a manuscript catalogue of the Right Ascension
s of zodiacal stars was made. Nevill was elected Fellow of Royal Society in 1888 and Nevill was appointed Government Chemist and Official Assayer for Natal, which included the duty for latter post of acting as pathologist
in cases of suspected poisoning.
Later Lunar Theory work: Observations of Moon at Greenwich
compared with Hansen's Tables, with Nevill's corrections leading to new values of elements and new lunar tables prepared. No publication of this work occurred due to lack of funds at Durban. Work was restricted more and more to routine observations and in 1911 the Observatory closed. Nevill returned to Britain and retired in Eastbourne
. Most lunar work was superseded by E. W. Brown in a series of 5 memoirs between 1897 and 1905.
Family: In 1894 (at age 45) Nevill married Mabel Grant, one of the 'four ladies' at the observatory. Three children and Mrs Nevill survived Nevill's death.
, to which he had been admitted in 1908, and was known personally to very few of the Fellows. Nevill was averse to photography - no known photograph exists. The lunar crater Neison
is named after him.
Selenography
Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon. Historically, the principal concern of selenographists was the mapping and naming of the lunar maria, craters, mountain ranges, and other various features...
called The Moon and the condition and configuration of its surface and later set up an observatory in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, Natal Province
Natal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
. He also wrote a popular book on astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
some years after immigrating to Durban.
Early Years and volunteer soldier
He was born at Beverley, YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 27 August 1849 and educated at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
. During the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
he volunteered with French forces and served with Marshal McMahon.
London 1871 to 1882
In 1871, Nevill returned to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and worked as parliamentary reporter to The Standard and also as theatre critic, but his interests included astronomy and chemistry. Nevill has the means to set up a private observatory in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
and became known as amateur with a special interest in the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. Nevill was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
under the name Edmund Neison, 'having the curious idea that it was derogatory to the holder of an ancient name to make a career in science'. He reverted to Nevill in 1888 'in accordance with the conditions of a will'. RAS paper in June 1873 argued for the existence of a lunar atmosphere and later paper defined (low) limits for the density of such an atmosphere.
In 1876 he produced The Moon described as a translation, extension and updating of Madler. Used many observations and sketches by Webb and other amateurs. The volume 'served its purpose of stimulating interest in selenography'. Nevill was a founder of the Selenographical Society with William Radcliffe Birt
William Radcliffe Birt
William Radcliffe Birt was an English amateur astronomer in the 19th century. His name is used for the Birt crater, a minor crater on the Moon. Birt worked extensively with John Herschel, carrying out a great deal of meteorogical research on atmospheric waves, from 1843 to 1850...
, and from 1878 published in Selenographical Journal. This book is still prized by amateur selenographers and is quoted extensively by Wilkins and Moore.
Nevill also became a Member of the Chemical Society
Chemical Society
The Chemical Society was formed in 1841 as a result of increased interest in scientific matters....
having agitated in early '70s for a Chemical Institute. At meeting of Chemical Society on 26 April 1876 committee formed and Neison was one of the Fellows of the Institute of Chemistry, serving on the Council from 1877 to 1900. Later acted as a Government Chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
in Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
.
Lunar theory
The context of Nevill's lunar work was given by the increasing recognition of the inaccuracy of Hansen's Tables. Simon NewcombSimon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb was a Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician. Though he had little conventional schooling, he made important contributions to timekeeping as well as writing on economics and statistics and authoring a science fiction novel.-Early life:Simon Newcomb was born in the town of...
found fluctuations both irregular and long period, and researched early observations of Moon. In 1878 Newcomb reviewed all observations and found that Hansen's fit back to 1750 worked because all earlier results were ignored. Finding if terms had been omitted from Hansen's theory was a major research issue at the time. Neison/Nevill, in a paper published in the RAS March 1877, confirmed a Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
term discovered by Simon Newcomb in 1876 - Neison's coefficient is accurate but an associated long period term coefficient is off by factor of 10. In 1877 Nevill produces a memoir developing analytical theory with an eye to less labour involved in producing tables. Memoir 'showed Nevill to possess considerable powers of Mathematical manipulation'. Later: Ernest W. Brown derived a new theory from first principles - much of Neison's later work in Durban observing Moon positions and comparing with theory is left high and dry and not published due to financial constraints.
Durban 1882 - 1912
A transit of VenusTransit 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...
occurred on 8 December 1874 and 6 December 1882. The Transit of Venus Commission set up stations to observe the event. Durban was considered as a possible station but rejected because of tendency to cloudy weather in Natal during December season. Establishing an observatory in Durban was of interest to Harry Escombe, a local politician in the imperial government established by the British regime. David Gill, Astronomer Royal to the Cape, agreed and £350 voted by Corporation of Durban plus £500 by Legislative Council to found an observatory. A Grubb 8 inch aperture equatorial refracting telescope
Refracting telescope
A refracting or refractor telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image . The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses...
presented by Escombe and a 3 inch transit instrument was purchased by the government. A Dent sidereal clock was lent by the Venus Commission. Gill telegrammed Nevill to offer post of Government Astronomer, and Nevill sailed at 24 hours' notice on 27 October and arrived 27 November 1882.
State of observatory: Nevill took possession of Observatory 1 December 1882 and found a thick coat of paint covered dome machinery making it immovable, the telescope had been erected prior to dome and had suffered from salt air and moved with difficulty, the polarising solar eyepiece was incompatible with telescope or accessories. The transit instrument was in Cape Town so a telegraph was used to relay time signal from Cape Observatory. Still, observations of the transit (in fine weather conditions) were obtained 5 days later.
Later observatory work: Observations were made to check Moon theory: determination of parallactic inequality, study of effect of limb irregularities on apparent place of Moon, effect of irradiation on apparent diameter; and determination of real libration
Libration
In astronomy, libration is an oscillating motion of orbiting bodies relative to each other, notably including the motion of the Moon relative to Earth, or of Trojan asteroids relative to planets.-Lunar libration:...
of Moon. Also weather observations, time service, comets and 'temporary phenomena'. Staff included Nevill, assistant, and later 'four ladies were added as astronomical computers'. Nevill published a major paper on corrections to Hansen's Tables - using 1500 observations of the Moon to derive corrections for arbitrary values assumed by Hansen for coefficients. Nevill proposed two ambitious projects: mathematical investigation of terms of long period resulting from planetary action and the actual calculation of every term of long period exceeding a maximum amplitude of 0.1 arc sec. Lack of library access to Hansen, Poisson and Delaunay hampered progress.
Tidal work: In 1885 for Natal Harbour Board using methods devised by British Association Committee. Tide tables for Natal were produced in 1888. Paul Huges (UK) has researched the letters from Nevill to Darwin on tide observations as part of a larger body of work on the history of tidal theory in the nineteenth century. Nevill's letters to Gill and Darwin are in archives in UK including the Cambridge University archives.
Money problems: 1887 no funds available for salaries. 'The greater part of the work of the Observatory would have had to be suspended, had it not been for the zealous assistance of four ladies'. Political changes in the Legislative Assembly occurred throughout this period, and in 1888 an assistant was appointed again, and a manuscript catalogue of the Right Ascension
Right ascension
Right ascension is the astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system. The other coordinate is the declination.-Explanation:...
s of zodiacal stars was made. Nevill was elected Fellow of Royal Society in 1888 and Nevill was appointed Government Chemist and Official Assayer for Natal, which included the duty for latter post of acting as pathologist
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
in cases of suspected poisoning.
Later Lunar Theory work: Observations of Moon at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
compared with Hansen's Tables, with Nevill's corrections leading to new values of elements and new lunar tables prepared. No publication of this work occurred due to lack of funds at Durban. Work was restricted more and more to routine observations and in 1911 the Observatory closed. Nevill returned to Britain and retired in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
. Most lunar work was superseded by E. W. Brown in a series of 5 memoirs between 1897 and 1905.
Family: In 1894 (at age 45) Nevill married Mabel Grant, one of the 'four ladies' at the observatory. Three children and Mrs Nevill survived Nevill's death.
Retirement 1912 - 1940
He was a keen lawn tennis player and much interested in Babylonian history 'which occupied him after his retirement'. Nevill never attended meetings 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 which he had been admitted in 1908, and was known personally to very few of the Fellows. Nevill was averse to photography - no known photograph exists. The lunar crater Neison
Neison (crater)
Neison is a lunar crater that lies to the south of the crater Meton, in the northern part of the Moon. The high latitude of this crater means that the crater appears foreshortened when viewed from the Earth, having an elliptical appearance even though it is nearly circular in shape.The outer rim of...
is named after him.