Nevil Maskelyne

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Nevil Maskelyne served as Astronomer Royal from 1765 to his death in 1811. In 1766, Maskelyne published his first annual

Nautical Almanac

which provided tables of lunar elevation every noon at midnight at various places around the world, thus enabling mariners to establish their accurate location on the earth’s surface. His work intersected with the development of a sea-going chronometer by Harrison (q.v.), a method of finding longitude which Maskelyne did much to oppose, favouring his own method of calculations based on lunar tables.

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Nevil Maskelyne". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12539, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12539 Nevil Maskelyne 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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