Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.8472
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    Astronomical quadrant

    Date
    ca. 1767
    Creator
    John Bird (1709 - 1776, British) , Instrument maker
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    A 12-inch brass astronomical quadrant, comprising a piece of metal in the shape of a quarter circle and a telescope. Supported by a long neck and a four-foot base. Inscribed 'RS 62' in a number of places and 'J. Bird London' along the curved edge of the quarter circle.

    Used to measure the angle of a celestial objects from the zenith, this particular design incorporated innovations to reduce observational inaccuracies, as described by Bird in his Pamphlet 'The Method of Dividing Astronomical Instruments…' (John Nourse, London, 1767). It is traditionally thought to be the quadrant used by Captain James Cook (1728-1779) during his observations of the transit of Venus in Tahiti in the 1760s.

    John Bird (1709–1776) British instrument maker was not a Fellow of the Royal Society.
    Object history
    Exact provenance unknown. Likely commissioned by the Royal Society in their preparations for the Transit of Venus and deposited with them on the return trip to London, at some unknown date post-1769.
    Associated place
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