Charles Mason
Charles Mason (born April 1728 in Oakridge, Gloucestershire , England , † October 25, 1786 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA ) was an English astronomer .
At the beginning of his career he worked at the Greenwich Observatory near London . He was also involved in the observation of the passage of Venus ( Venus transit ) in 1761, which was requested by Edmond Halley . He observed Venus together with Jeremiah Dixon in Cape Town, the results should be a counterpart to the results of the observations in Northern Europe. Between 1763 and 1769 he and his partner Jeremiah Dixon measured the Mason-Dixon line named after them .
Honors
- The American author Thomas Pynchon set a literary monument to the two in his 1997 novel Mason & Dixon .
- The title track of the Mark Knopfler album Sailing to Philadelphia is about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.
- The lunar crater Mason is named after him.
Individual evidence
- ^ A Plan of the West Line or Parallel of Latitude . In: World Digital Library . 1768. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
Web links
- Literature by and about Charles Mason in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mason, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 1728 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oakridge, Gloucestershire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 25, 1786 |
| Place of death | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA |