Journeys of the Mind

Journeys of the Mind : Explaining the Heavens
Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900)
Report on the Teneriffe Astronomical Experiment of 1856
London: Printed by Richard Taylor and William Francis, 1858.
Gift of the Burndy Library

Report on the Teneriffe Astronomical Experiment of 1856 Piazzi Smyth was the first astronomer to seriously advocate that astronomical observations would be greatly improved if done at high altitudes. His report to the British Admiralty on his expedition to the Canary Islands greatly influenced the next generation of astronomers, including Samuel P. Langley (1834-1906), third Secretary of the Smithsonian, to whom he sent this copy. It includes annotations by the two men as well as a pasted-in spectrum by Piazzi Smyth and a letter from him to Langley.

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Views of Jupiter from the Teneriffe Astronomical Experiment of 1856


		A short biography of "the brilliant but eccentric" Charles Piazzi Smyth is found in the website of The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh and the City Observatory Edinburgh.
		While in Cape Town, Charles Piazzi Smyth established a reputation for astronomical drawing and an early use of the medium of photography. In 1846, the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society reported on his early progress.
		Some background on Charles Piazzi Smyth's early days is found in a review of Brian Warner, Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer-artist: his Cape years 1835-1845 from an article from the Canberra Astronomical Society's journal, "The Southern Cross."
		Baden-Powell Family History. A series of links based on the research of Robin Baden Clay, a grandson of Baden-Powell. They are focused on the genealogy of the Powell family. The author is extremely grateful to Mr. Clay for sharing the results of his labors with the Scouting community. Links are provided to pages for three of B-P's brothers: Baden, Warington and Sir George Baden-Powell as well as to the genealogy of the Smyth and Warington families.