Table of Contents

Part 1 Preparation: the Maskelynes of Purton; the longitude problem; the transit of Venus, 1761; Saint Helena, 1761; the Barbados trials, 1763-4; Astronomer Royal, 1765; the Royal Observatory and its instruments; the Harrison affair, 1764-7; the Nautical Almanac. Part 2 Achievement: early years at Greenwich, 1765-9; the 1770s; weighing the world - Schiehallion, 1774; the 1780s - and a new planet; the 1790s; the final years, 1800-11. summing up.