Royal Observatory Greenwich: 350 Years of Navigating the Skies, Stars and Seas
Join The Explorers Club and Royal Museums Greenwich, on Tuesday, October 21st, as we celebrate 350 years of the Royal Observatory Greenwich and its legacy of innovation in navigation and timekeeping.
In July 1675, Charles II, King of England, made a decision that changed the world forever. Global trade and navigation were increasingly important to the wealth of empires and provisions of everyday life. Yet navigation at sea was a dangerous, unsure feat, often resulting in loss of goods, vessels, and life. Thus, Royal Observatory, Greenwich was founded “so as to find out the so much desired Longitude of Places for perfecting the art of Navigation.”
Alongside the founding of the Royal Observatory, an Astronomer Royal was appointed to chart the stars to provide safer navigation. John Flamsteed spent 30 years mapping the celestial sphere, setting the precedent of his many successors. Join us to learn about the Observatory’s role in the 1714 Act of Longitude, John Harrison’s quest to solve the problem of Longitude, the Nautical Almanac and the international impact of the Royal Observatory through the designation of the Prime Meridian, 0° Longitude and Greenwich Mean Time.
The Octagon room, Royal Observatory, Greenwich. ZBA1808
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Paddy Rodgers
Paddy Rodgers was appointed Director (Chief Executive Officer) of Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) in August 2019. Located within the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, RMG comprises of the National Maritime Museum (including the Caird Library the world’s largest specialist maritime heritage library), the Royal Observatory Greenwich (home to GMT and the world’s Prime Meridian), the magnificent Queen’s House and the historic clipper ship Cutty Sark. Also, the Prince Philip Maritime Collection Centre. RMG attracts 2.5 million visitors annually, drawn by the splendour of the Greenwich site and the magnificence of the Museum’s collections and exhibitions.
He is a Younger Brother of the Corporation of Trinity House (the world’s oldest lighthouse organisation), a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and a Freeman of the City of London.
Previously, Paddy served as Chief Executive Officer of Euronav the world’s largest independent publicly listed tanker company (2000–2019).
Paddy also served as a Director and Chairman of the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (2011-2019). He served on the Executive of Intertanko, the tanker owners business association, and has had several non-executive positions within the industry.
He graduated in law from University College London in 1981.
Dava Sobel
Dava Sobel is the author of Longitude (Walker 1995, Bloomsbury 2005), Galileo’s Daughter (Walker 1999 and 2011), The Planets (Viking 2005, Penguin 2006), A More Perfect Heaven (Walker/Bloomsbury 2011 and 2012), And the Sun Stood Still (Bloomsbury 2016), The Glass Universe (Viking 2016, Penguin 2017) and The Elements of Marie Curie (Grove/Atlantic 2024). She has also co-authored six books, including Is Anyone Out There? with astronomer Frank Drake, and currently edits the “Meter” poetry column in Scientific American.
