Janet Taylor

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Janet Taylor (* as Jane Ann Ionn May 13, 1804 in Wolsingham ; † January 25, 1870 ) was a British astronomer, navigation expert and instrument maker. She was thus active in a domain that was then reserved exclusively for men.

Life

She was the daughter of a clergyman and headmaster (Grammar School in Wolsingham, Durham Borough), whose school also taught navigation. His daughter also received navigation lessons there. Her mother died when she was six and her father in 1821. When she was nine, she attended Queen Charlotte School in Ampthill , Bedfordshire, thanks to Queen Charlotte's patronage (a national scholarship originally intended for girls aged 14 and over) . In 1831 she married the widower George Taylor (died 1853), a former naval lieutenant, and became the stepmother of his three children (later she had eight more children with him). She changed her first name to Janet when she married and moved to London, where she founded her first nautical academy for merchant navy officers in 1833. After the success of her blackboards and books, this later became a shop for navigation items (nautical charts, sextants, chronometers, barometers, etc.), which she ran with her husband, and from around 1845 she had a workshop for nautical instruments. From 1835 she was a sub-agent for Admiralty cards. With her academy, she found recognition from major maritime agencies such as the East India Company and the Admiralty. It was near the London Tower.

She calculated and published nautical tables on the positions of the moon and the sun (Lunar-Solar and Horary Tables), which, thanks to the support of Francis Beaufort (the Admiralty's hydrograph ), gained acceptance from the Admiralty, Trinity House and the East India Company and seven editions until 1854. They were used in particular to determine the length from observations of the moon. In 1834 she received a patent for her development of a nautical calculating instrument called Mariner's Calculator , which however, after a negative evaluation by Francis Beaufort (1834), did not find acceptance by the Admiralty. She also published textbooks on navigation ( Principles of Navigation simplified , first in 1834 with three editions, and Epitome of Navigation , 12 editions from 1842 to 1859). From 1852 she published a manual for the examinations in the merchant navy and her star tables (Planisphere of the fixed stars with book of directions) saw six editions between 1846 and 1863.

From 1843 she turned to the construction and adjustment of compasses for iron ships. The use of compasses on iron ships instead of wooden ships created significant problems at the time and sparked a scientific debate, with Janet Taylor following the correction method of George Biddell Airy , the royal astronomer. She worked with Airy and from around 1845 operated the adjustment of compasses for iron ships according to Airy's method (compensation with permanent magnets and iron around the compass). Her assistant Frederick Wiggins later went into business for himself. With Airy she was also involved in the heated debate about the sinking of the passenger ship Tayleur off Ireland in January 1854 (with 370 deaths). The sinking was attributed by some critics to the adjustment of the compass according to Airy's system. Janet Taylor supported the attacked, more theoretically oriented Airy with her practical experience. From around 1860 she converted her nautical business into its own company (Mrs. Janet Taylor and Co.).

Only one example is known of their Mariners Calculator , which was auctioned for £ 15,000 in 1999 and is privately owned. It was a sextant with further measuring circles perpendicular to it and, among other things, served to solve the length problem with the help of the lunar distance method, which was still relevant in the 19th century despite Harrison's invention of the (expensive) chronometer. John Croucher attributed Beaufort's rejection in part to the difficult phase of life (Beaufort's wife had died of cancer at the time) and suggested a replica, which took place in 2004 (by antique nautical instrument specialist Ron Robinson). Robinson thought the design was fundamentally correct and ingenious, but its use by simple naval officers, especially on sailing ships, was impractical and the instrument too complicated in the broad field of application aimed at by Janet Taylor. She had invested part of her inheritance in the development and ran into financial difficulties (at the end of her life she left nothing after settling with her creditors).

Some of their instruments are in museum collections, including their Prince of Wales Quintant, exhibited at the Great Exhibition 1851, which is in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Awards

For her services she received a gold medal from the Dutch king and one from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III. as well as an award from the Pope.

In 1860, in recognition of her services, she received a state pension of £ 50 a year, the minimum amount. Compared to the pension of the astronomer Mary Somerville , which was 200 or later 300 pounds, this was relatively small, which was probably due to the class differences, Mary Somerville was the daughter of an admiral.

literature

  • John S. Croucher, Rosalind F. Croucher: Mistress of Science: The Story of the Remarkable Janet Taylor, Pioneer of Sea Navigation , Amberley 2016. ISBN 1445659859 (based on the 2004 dissertation of John Croucher).
  • John S. Croucher, Rosalind F. Croucher: Mrs. Janet Taylor's "Mariner's Calculator": assessment and reassessment . British Journal for the History of Science, Volume 44, 2011, pp. 493–507 (with biographical information)
  • John S. Croucher, Rosalind F. Croucher: Compasses and sinking ships: Mrs Janet Taylor's contribution in the compass adjusting controversy of mid-nineteenth-century England , International Journal of Maritime History, Volume 30, 2018, Issue 2
  • John Croucher: An exceptional women of science , Scientific Instrument Society Bulletin, Volume 84, 2005, pp. 22-27
  • John S. Croucher, Rosalind F. Croucher: Mrs Janet Taylor and the Civil List Pension — a claim to recognition by her country , Women's History Review, Volume 21, 2012, Issue 2
  • KR Alger: The mystery of Janet Taylor navigator extraordinary , in: Seafarer, Winter 1977
  • MR Alger: Mrs Janet Taylor 'authoress and instructress in navigation and nautical astronomy (1804-1870) , London, Fawcett Library Papers No. 6, (City of London Polytechnic, Calcutta House), LLRS Publications, 1982.
  • S. Fisher: Taylor (née Ionn), Janet (1804-1870) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online, 2010
  • Gloria Clifton: Directory of british scientific instrument makers 1550-1851, London 1995
  • Mary Brück: Women in early british and irish astronomy: stars and satellites , Dordrecht 2009
  • EGR Taylor : The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1840 , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1966

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Luni-solar and horary tables, with their application in nautical astronomy; containing an easy and correct method of finding the longitude, by lunar observations and chronometers; the latitude, by double altitudes and elapsed time, the azimuth, amplitude, and true time, 1833, Lunar tables: by which the true distance is obtained from the apparent altitudes, thereby avoiding the usual tedious preparations, previous to clearing a lunar distance, several editions 1834 to 1840, Lunar and horary tables: with the shortest method of finding the longitude and the time, by lunar distance and chronometers, 5 editions between 1844 and 1854
  2. ↑ He feared among other difficulties with the rough fingers of seafarers (difficulty with the clumsy fingers of seamen) and slovenliness, which accrue to the users whose work should facilitate, not exactly know on what basis the instrument worked. Croucher, Croucher, Mrs Janet Taylor's "Mariner's Calculator": assessment and reassessment, British Journal for the History of Science, Volume 44, 2011, p. 502
  3. ↑ Croucher, Croucher, Mrs Janet Taylor's "Mariner's Calculator": assessment and reassessment, British Journal for the History of Science, Volume 44, 2011, p. 494, illustration p. 495
  4. ↑ Croucher, Croucher, Janet Taylor's "Mariner's Calculator," British Journal for the History of Science, Volume 44, 2011, p. 505
  5. ↑ Mrs Janet Taylor's "Mariner's Calculator": assessment and reassessment . British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 44, 2011, p. 500
  6. ↑ Croucher & Croucher: Mrs Janet Taylor and the Civil List Pension - A claim to recognition by her country , Women's History Review , Volume 21, 2012, Issue 2
  7. ↑ Of the 2200 recorded there, she is the only woman
personal data
SURNAME Taylor, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ionn, Jane Ann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British astronomer, navigation teacher and instrument maker
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolsingham
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1870