Magister Scientiæ;

University of Greenwich main campus

I have recently been accepted to study for a Magister Scientiæ; or Masters of Science abbreviated MSc (reading Cinematography and Post Production) at The School of Mathematics and Computer Science at The University of Greenwich.

Greenwich is described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as being of “outstanding universal value” and reckoned to be the “finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles” . The Guardian Newspaper league tables for 2009 from have rated The University of Greenwich alongside Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick as one of the Top four Schools for Mathematics and Computer Science while the Times Newspaper has said "The University of Greenwich inhabits what must rank as some of the most exquisite university grounds in the country".


The Painted Hall

The Royal Observatory is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian line and so considered one of the most important historic & scientific sites in the world. The University has established research partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies and the European Space Agency. In 2009, a University of Greenwich graduate was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Professor Kao was awarded the prize for being the first person to develop a device, which makes use of Einstein’s discovery that photons of light can be turned into an electrical signal.

Professor Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Leicester, said:

"The invention of the CCD has had a major impact on all our lives, revolutionising our ability to record, process and share images. From YouTube to the Hubble Space Telescope: these devices are now at the heart of our digital video and still cameras and underpin the extraordinary progress made in astronomy during the past 20-30 years."


View of the College in the late 1600's

The University of Greenwich campus is considered to be an architectural masterpiece and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Up until the mid- 20th century the river Thames served as the major thoroughfare for national and international trade and travel to the capital. Situated on a commanding site of the Thames with impressive views across the river to the City of London, the palace of Greenwich was regarded as a symbol of national prestige. In the 1660's King Charles II, inspired by the location on the river and the Greenwich site, devised an entirely new scheme and embarked upon a policy of expansion that was to transform the old Tudor palace of Greenwich. The new Baroque palace was to reflect the might and power of the newly restored Monarchy. Much of the Tudor palace swept away and replaced by a baroque palace even more impressive in size and splendour.


Graduation takes place at The College Chapel

The building was commissioned to be a classically inspired rival to the French Palace of Versailles, manifested in hard-wearing portland stone on a colossal scale. Situated within the oldest enclosed Royal Park in Britain, the 73 hectares (183 acres) of grounds were remodeled by André Le Notre, gardener to Louis XIV of France, in a formal symmetrical style. Much of the earlier 15th century palace was demolished, with only The Queens House remaining as the centerpiece of the new Baroque layout. Due to the massive scale of the project and the huge costs involved, building work was slow, often in fits and starts and sometimes comming to a complete halt due to lack of funds. The main work took place between 1696 and 1712 although the construction was not finished completely until 1752.


Print of Greenwich in the 1400's

Under King William III and Mary II the Queens House, designed by Inigo Jones, remained a royal residence while the Kings House was earmarked for the use as a naval hospital. The project came to be known as The Greenwich Hospital, and it was only later that the site became associated with The Royal Naval College before becoming the University of Greenwich.


Dome in the Painted Hall

Although the foundations of the college can be traced back to the 1400's The University of Greenwich is very much a modern University. Since the 19th century, the University has expanded from a technical institution to a regional leader teaching a range of subjects across engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and business. The research focus is applied science with strong links to the scientific community and Greenwich offers research and consultancy services to businesses and other organizations.

http://cms1.gre.ac.uk/web/news/archive05.asp


Some of the ancient trees in Greenwich Park

An innovator from the start, a range of specialist organisations have joined the institution, to add to the Universities first-class research and consultancy. A large number of technical start-up companies have established themselves in the Thames Valley and these companies have strong ties to the university. As a result research income from the industry has grown and this has been one reasons for the success in recent Government Research Assessments. Support comes as well from the Indian government and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education. BBC Training and Development, a globally recognized center of excellence, teaches The MSc course in Cinematography & Post-Production in conjunction with Greenwich.


Shakespeare rehearsed and performed his plays at Greenwich

The University is run by Vice Chancellor Tessa Blackstone, who has served as the Minister of State for Education and as the Minister of State for The Arts. Blackstone is Professor of Educational Administration at the world-renowned University of London Institute of Education, and she a Life Peer in the British House of Lords.

*(However, neither Oxford, Cambridge or Warwick specializes in Cinematography- my chosen subject)



Arabian Astrolabe from the museum collection at Greenwich

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/index.html

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/288915,hong-kong-father-of-fibre-optics-awarded-nobel-prize-for-physics.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2009/may/12/university-guide-mathematics

Registering for the Course

The University of Greenwich Student Canteen

My God! This place is amazing. Arrival by watertaxi. I am having trouble registering... but everyone is so nice and helpful. And even when I start to get annoyed suddenly I turn another corner and find something of such outstanding beauty that my jaw drops and I feel compelled to whip out my camera to record it for posterity.



I haven’t felt like this since I first moved to Paris. Never mind the grand squares that the tourists see. Even the interiors of the college are amazing... 17th century wainscoting with ultra modern facilities and plenty of computers to go around...no waiting around!


Arriving at the college by water taxi

I went to take a piss and the bathroom was sparkling-new with a floor to ceiling window that overlooked a cobblestone courtyard crowned with the dome of a church. The student canteen is in the undercroft and is very clean, bright and very grand with vaulted ceilings and chandeliers... this is the most beautiful college I've ever seen.


The University of Greenwich with The River Thames and Canary Wharf

Graduate Wins 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics

An engineering graduate of The University of Greenwich has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Professor Kao was awarded for being the first person to develop efficient fibre optic cables. In a seminal paper in 1966, published only a year after he was awarded his PhD, Professor Kao suggested that glass fibres made from fused silica could represent “a new form of communication medium”. His suggestion sparked an intense worldwide race to produce glass fibres with low optical losses.


17th century print of Octagon Room at The Greenwich Royal Observatory,

The device, which makes use of Einstein’s discovery that photons of light can be turned into an electrical signal, has had an array of medical applications, such as the development of endoscopes to gain images inside the body for diagnostics and keyhole surgery. In astronomy, the Hubble telescope records its vivid images of distant galaxies and supernovas on CCDs, as did the robotic Mars rovers.


The Millenium Dome seen from Greenwich

While Professor Kao’s discovery was the outcome of several years’ hard graft, Professor Boyle said that he and his co-worker Smith came up with the design for a digital imaging device within the space of a day in 1969. “It was easy that morning when we sketched out on a blackboard a diagram for the CCD,” he said. Baroness Blackstone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, and a former Minister of State said that the award would be inspirational to young scientists studying there today:

“Charles Kao’s enormous success shows that former polytechnics do still produce people who make incredible contributions. He will not be the only person in this category,” said Baroness Blackstone.


University of Greenwich in 1960's

When he began his investigation in the 1960s, fibre optics were only capable of transmitting light tens of metres before it petered out. Through a series of precise and methodical experiments Professor Kau identified the chief limiting factor was the absorption of light by iron impurities in the glass. As a result of his work more than 1 billion kilometres of optical cables carry lightning fast broadband internet data to and from households and offices around the world. Two US physicists, Willard Sterling Boyle and George Smith, from Bell Labs in New Jersey, shared the second half of the prize for inventing the first digital imaging technology. Their work made digital cameras possible and has led to huge advances in medical and astronomical imaging technology.


Royal Observatory courtyard, with the Prime Meridian

As a result of his findings, modern fibre optics transmit 95 per cent of the light, allowing long-range, rapid communication. Professor Sir Peter Knight, Senior Principal at Imperial College London, said:

“Kao was the first to understand the impurities in glass and how to get rid of them. He had already spotted the communications opportunities,and therefore the great distances light could travel, while others were still thinking in metres. He was a revolutionary and his work is a fine example of how fundamental research can have a massive impact on our everyday lives.”


The Greenwich Royal Observatory Clock

Professor Charles Kuen Kao, who attended the University of Greenwich in the 1950s, carried out his Nobel-prize winning research while working at Standard Telephones and Cables in Harlow, now owned by the telecommunications multinational Nortel. Kao, a Chinese-born Briton, will receive half of the 10m Swedish kronor (£818,000) prize money, while Professors Smith and Boyle will take a quarter each. Announcing the laureates at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the Nobel assembly said the research "had helped to shape the foundations of today's networked societies. They have created many practical innovations for everyday life and provided new tools for scientific exploration".



In a telephone interview to the Nobel Prize press conference Professor Boyle said he had “a lovely feeling all over his body” when he received the phone call from the Nobel Foundation”.

“I see people using these little digital cameras all over the world and we started it all,” he said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/genetics/article6863121.ece#

http://alumni.gre.ac.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=240

Duke Humphrey's Library at Bella Court

The Great hall was built in the 1400's

The Domesday Book records the manor of Greenwich as held by the Bishop Odo of Bayeux; his lands were seized by the crown in 1082. A royal palace, or hunting lodge, has existed here since before 1300, when Edward III is known to have made offerings at the chapel of the Virgin Mary. Subsequent monarchs were regular visitors, with Henry IV making his will here, and Henry V granting the manor (for life) to Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, who died at Greenwich in 1417.

The palace was created by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the regent to Henry VI in 1447; enclosing the park and erecting a tower on the spot of the Royal Observatory. It was renamed the Palace of Placentia or Pleasaunce by Henry VI's consort Margaret of Anjou after Humphrey's death. The palace was completed and further enlarged by Edward IV, and in 1466 it was granted to his Queen, Elizabeth.


The Roof of the Tudor Great Hall in nearby Eltham

The nearby moated Palace of Eltham was used by the royal family as a palace around the same time as Greenwich and so provides an example of what the Tudor palace might have looked like before being swept away by Charles II. Like Greenwich, Eltham Palace is set in beautiful parkland with expansive views over London. The Great Hall was built for Edward IV in the 1470s as a dining hall for the court. The hall measures an impressive 100 feet in length. Like Greenwich, Eltham was neglected durring the civil war.


The Library's Glass Dome

One tends to think of the Renaissance as the beginning of modern Art and Science, but it was not until the 17th century that the new concepts of mathematics and the physical sciences began to emerge, and indeed that was also the beginning of the era of classical music. For example, it was not until Duke Humphrey, donated part of his collection of manuscripts and classical texts that he kept at Greenwich in the middle 1400s that Oxford students had books to read!


Duke Humphrey's collection establishes the foundation for a University Library

Such as large gift called for a greater space to house them, and work began to construct the Divinity School. Up until the 17th century Oxford University was not a school with deep pockets in terms of money; the Reformation and the creation of the Church of England split the country in half religiously, politically, and with these drastic changes, the university suffered both in its prestige and actual educational capacity. Anything papal was in the midst of being destroyed, and the Duke Humfrey's library, having such early promise, by 1450 was nearly empty. The library had to resort to various means for funds, such as the selling of its property. Still, these sorts of measures could hardly have raised enough revenue to maintain let alone develop their library collections.


Greenwich Library at Avery Hill

Today, the Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford. It is also a copyright deposit library and its collections are used by scholars from around the world. The buildings within the central site include Duke Humfrey's Library above the Divinity School, the Old Schools Quadrangle with its Great Gate and Tower, the Radcliffe Camera, Britain's first circular library, and the Clarendon Building.


Manuscripts donated by Duke Humphrey from his collection at Greenwich

Structural Concepts & Visual Ordering

Blenheim Palace by Greenwich architect Sir John Vanbrugh

The 17th century advances in geometry in particular led to the construction of some of the world's most magnificent buildings. Architects such as Sir Christopher Wren were competent mathematicians, and used that knowledge in the design of their buildings. Mathematics and architecture have always been close, not only because architecture depends on developments in mathematics, but also their shared search for order and beauty, the former in nature and the latter in construction. Mathematics is indispensable to the understanding of structural concepts and calculations. It is also employed as visual ordering element or as a means to achieve harmony with the universe.


The Peter's Basillica in the Vatican

The Baroque did not enjoy a long run in England, with a life spanning only a few decades. Yet in that time the new style produced several of England's most important architectural treasures, notably Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace and of course at Greenwich. Baroque architects had been schooled in the classical Renaissance tradition, emphasizing symmetry and harmonious proportions, but their designs revealed a new sense of dynamism and grandeur. Renaissance architects had sought to engage the intellect, with their focus on divine sources of geometry, while their successors aimed to overwhelm the senses and emotions. Baroque architects also mastered the unification of the visual arts -- painting, sculpture, architecture, garden design, and urban planning -- to a remarkable degree, producing buildings and structures with a heightened sense of drama and power.


Les Invalides, The new model for Greenwich under Queen Mary II

The baroque in art and architecture emerged in Rome and Paris shortly after 1600 and soon spread throughout Europe. During this period new social and political systems resulted in the concentration of power in the hands of individuals with absolute authority. Architecture affirmed this through the structures and decorative programs of palaces, churches, public and government buildings, scientific and commercial buildings, and military installations. Magnificent churches, fountains, and palaces attested to the renewed strength of the popes in Rome and Russian Orthodox liturgies.


Charles II planned a palace at Greenwich to rival Versailles

Influneced by his time in France, Charles II had plans for a grandiose palace in the baroque style. However, William III decided not to live at Greenwich, preferring to build a new palace in red brick at Kensington and a to rebuild Hampton Court. While architects also gave baroque forms to Protestant churches, perhaps the Dutch Prince of Orange was felt that Greenwich was being built in a style of architecture too closely associated with the Vatican and the absolute monarchies of Europe.

Indeed, it would seem that building site at Greenwich was a bit of a political 'hot-potato as it was location on the Thames river which meant that a symbol of national presige. Eventually Queen Mary II, decided to continue the building project at Greenwich as a naval hospital. No doubt this was a more sympathetic use for a building built by a recently restored monarchy whose power was based on their religous affiliations with Protestantism. Perhaps it was deemed expedient to distance the monarchy from this association with Catholic Europe, and the absolutism of European monarchs. Instead, the British Monarchy decide to create a naval hospital to rival the military hospital, Les Invalides in Paris, which was being built by 'The Sun King' Louis XIV and in the style of a magnificent baroque Palace.


Palace Square at The Winter Palace

Though a worthy cause, to modern eyes it may still seem strange to buid a hospital as an architectural masterpiece. However, this was certainly not the first time a Baroque building was put to military use. The military at this time was an extension of the crown. The desire of the monarchy to create a monument concerned with those wounded in battle was perhaps more in line with the sentiments of the time. For example, The project of Les Invalides was a custom built hospital for aged and unwell soldiers by an order dated 1670. The name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides, the hospital or invalids. And Les Invalides is arguably even more magnificant than Greenwich. In October 1915 the baroque masterpiece, The Winter Palace which had been a home to the Russian Tzars in St. Petersburg was rechristened the Tsarevich Alexey Nikolayevich Hospital. The palace became a fully equipped hospital, its staterooms transformed into hospital wards. The Fieldmarshals' Hall became a dressing station, the Armorial Hall an operating theatre. The small throne room became a doctor's mess room, while more lowly staff were accommodated in the Nicholas Hall and the Anteroom. Nurses were housed in the more intimate apartments once reserved for members of the extended Romanov family. The 1812 Gallery became a store room, the vestibule of the Jordan staircase the hospital's canteen, and its landings offices.


William & Mary favored the simplicity of Hampton Court

Sir Christopher Wren was engaged as surveyor, assisted by Nicholas Hawksmoor.John Webb’s existing wing of the new baroque palace, 'the King’s House’ of 1664-69 (now part of the King Charles building) became the cornerstone of Sir Christopher Wren’s grand design. His first plan was for a great three-sided court facing the river, with a grand Chapel as its focal point. However, just before her death Queen Mary forbade it: the ‘vista’ from the Queen’s House to the river (created only by demolition of the old Palace) must be preserved and so this masterpiece of the English Baroque came about almost accidentally, with the Queen’s House as the focal point.


The Banqueting House by Inigo Jones

As one of the principal surviving works of Inigo Jones, the elegant simplicity of the Queen's House is a wonderful example of English palladianism, and deemed to be a most important building in terms of British architectural history. The design of the US White House uses the same style of architecture as that of the Queen's House in Greenwich - it is based on the Palladian style derived from the buildings by Palladio in Renaissance Italy. Much has been written about the mathematical qualites of Palladian architure, including Palladio's own 'I quattro libri dell'architettura' . Often this has been analyzed within the context of a larter collection of architectural treatises, including Vitruvius' 'De architectura' and Alberti's De re aedificatoria as wellas works by contemporaries of Palladio such as Daniele Barbaro, Cesare Cesariano, Sebastiano Serlio and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. These Cinquecento writings underscore the importance of proportion, symmetry and geometry in Renaissance Italy: for example, Barbaro maontains that " some arts have more science and others less", and the "more worthy (are) those wherein the art of numeracy, geometry and mathematics is required". Lionello Puppi concludes " Architecture obviously came into this category... Palladio brings to the concrete stage of his planning operation a single-minded scientific approach, arrived at through 'lofty speculation' into number and proportion"


View of Greenwich

As the architect of the layout for Greenwich, Sir Christopher Wren had the foresight to lay out all the foundations early on, so that the basic design would not be compromised. He finally retired in 1716 and was succeeded first by the flamboyant Sir John Vanbrugh, then briefly by Colen Campbell, and he in turn by the more workmanlike Thomas Ripley in late 1729. As Clerk of Works, Nicholas Hawksmoor was always diligent and always overlooked. Building continued in four main phases until 1752: 1696–1710 Whole site was laid out and all foundations dug. King Charles Court remodelled and completed. Queen Anne ‘base’ Court and all ranges of King William Court erected. 1712–1721 North and south pavilions of King Charles Court and north pavilion of Queen Anne Court erected. King William colonnade and steps between King William Court and Queen Mary Court built. In 1725–1733 South pavilion of Queen Anne Court erected and the frontage onto Grand Square faced in stone. 1735–1751 Queen Mary Court completed.The temporary chapel within Queen Anne was removed. The Ripley tunnel connecting Queen Mary Court and King William Court was built.


Charles II hoped to create a rival to Versailles on the Thames

The Painted Hall, probably the finest dining hall in the Western world, is decorated with stunning paintings by James Thornhill, and is part of the King William Court. Wren submitted the designs in 1698, and the roof and the dome above were already in place five years later. Thornhill's decoration, by contrast, took nineteen years to complete. The allegorical theme of the huge and exuberant Lower Hall ceiling is the triumph of Peace and Liberty over Tyrany, and pays due tribute to William and Mary. Beyond the arch in the Upper Hall Queen Anne surveys the continents of the world (America reputedly represented by an image of Pocahontas who was of course in London at that time.


The Painted Hall at Greenwich

The Chapel of St Peter and St Paul was the last major element in constructed and was completed to Thomas Ripley’s design in 1752. In 1779 it was redesigned and rebuilt under the Surveyorship of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, in the ‘Greek revival’ style for which he was famous, though the detailing was done by his Clerk of Works, William Newton, and it reopened in 1789. Unlike many churches which are a mixture of styles through the ages, the Chapel is a complete and unaltered neoclassical period piece. When it was fully restored in the 1950s, various later wall tablets were relocated to the vestry and it is now almost as it was when opened on 20 September 1789.


The Chapel at Greenwich

Check out this link for 360 degree view of the Chapel!

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.58all.com/images/equirect/chapel1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.58all.com/interiors.htm&usg=__oRlu__mk9KWmzG12yCmLowR7IBs=&h=150&w=300&sz=16&hl=en&start=71&um=1&tbnid=s4SoyxTDQwVNiM:&tbnh=58&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3DInterior%2BRoyal%2BNaval%2BCollege%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3D
N%26start%3D54%26um%3D1

Cinematography & Postproduction

BBC Training and Development at University of Greenwich

The Cinematography and Post Production course is aimed at those wishing to take up positions in the film production industry. Students work in 35mm, S16, 2K and 4K digital using equipment (current in the industry). Students on the MSc Cinematography and Post Production work using 35mm, S16, 2K and 4K digital equipment. Dr. Chris Wollard, the course director, has many years of experience working in the film industry and is an external examiner for the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of The British Kinematograph and Television Society (BKSTS).


Like Greenwich, The Baroque Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, was used as a hospital

The University of Greenwich has a partnership agreement with BBC Training & Development and the Broadcast Production and Broadcast Post-Production are taught in conjunction with BBC Training & Development. BBC Training & Development is globally recognised as a centre of excellence. It remains at the forefront of the development and spread of training in digital technology in broadcasting.


Greenwich University Student Union Swimming Baths c.1884




Students playing cricket in front of the Royal Hospital School at the Queen's House, c.1898

Both outstanding results reflect the National Student Survey (NSS), an annual government run exercise, commissioned by the higher education funding councils, which polls most final year undergraduates across the UK. It provides students with an opportunity to make their opinions on their higher education student experience count at a national level and helps prospective learners make informed choices of where and what to study.


still from as 'Seen Through the Telescope' directed in 1900 by George Albert Smith.

I like this film because it is an eary example of the filmmakers craft and it's a tale of the repressed and the forbidden. It is a simple tale of a dodgy old man uses his telescope to have a good look at a couple across the street. It's also interesting as an early example of action cut across successive shots, with the viewer sharing what he sees: the young man's hands caressing the woman's foot and ankle, shown within a circular mask to mimic the telescopic view. In case you're worried, the voyeur doesn't go unrewarded - at the end of the film the younger man punches him. Perhaps that's why it was called L'astronome indiscret in France.

Greenwich rated in the Top 4 for Mathematics

Flamstead House, The Royal Observatory

The School of Mathematics and Computer Science is an extremely sucessful part of the University and is recognised both nationally and internationaly for its cutting edge research and innovative approach to curriculum development. Students from the School have achieved top grade positions in many of the leading large employers such as Microsoft, IBM, Morgan Stanley, British Telecom and Oracle. The Computer Department is top of the league tables for satisfaction amongst computing students, according to the latest subject comparison tables from the Times Online. And for maths student satisfaction comes in second, with a score of 90% (only narrowly topped by Leicester with 91%).

Since the foundation of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park in 1675, Greenwich has had an important place in the development of mathematics in Britain. Early Astronomers Royal, including Flamsteed and Halley, made precise measurements of star positions and attempted to solve the crucial problem of determining longitude at sea. The inspirational teachers, Edward and John Riddle, pioneered the teaching of the mathematics of navigation. The leading abstract algebraist, William Burnside, spent his working life at the College. In the 20th century, the Nautical Almanac Office led in the development of automatic computation. Today, researchers at Greenwich are involved in life-saving work on the mathematics of fire and evacuation, and are building mathematical models that will ensure the ageing Cutty Sark is preserved for future generations.


The Painted Hall

Flamsteed and his assistant Weston can be found on the ceiling of the Painted Hall in the left-hand corner immediately as you enter. Other mathematicians in the Painted Hall include Archimedes, Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, while Newton is
represented not by a portrait but by some of his geometrical diagrams.

The Royal Observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian line, was founded on 22 Jun 1675 and is, by international decree, the official starting point for each new day, year and millennium (at the stroke of midnight GMT as measured from the Prime Meridian.

The Meridain Line is a line which runs from the North to the South Poles. By international convention it runs through the 'primary transit' instrument (main telescope) at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Since the late 19th century, the Prime Meridian at Greenwich has served as the reference line for Greenwich Mean Time. It can now claim to be the centre of world time, and was the official starting point for the new Millennium. The Greenwich Meridian was chosen to be the Prime Meridian of the World in 1884. Forty-one delegates from 25 nations met in Washington DC for the International Meridian Conference.


Inigo Jones classical design

King Charles II who founded The Royal Observatory commanded John Flamsteed to apply "the most exact Care and Diligence to rectifying the Tables of the Motions of the Heavens, and the Places of the fixed Stars, so as to find out the so much desired Longitude at Sea, for perfecting the art of Navigation".

Jonas Moore, Surveyor General of the Ordnance, who instigated the foundation of an observatory at Greenwich, donated the necessary instruments to Flamsteed. In 1681 John Flamsteed, while still serving as Deputy Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, began to take in pupils at Greenwich.


Winter games outside Royal Observatory

King Charles's interest had been aroused a year earlier when the Sieur de St. Pierre, a French friend of his mistress, claimed to have a method for finding longitude. This was essentially the method of lunar distances, first proposed by Johannes Werner in 1514. A royal commission, including Wren and Hooke, had already been set up to consider using the dip of a magnetic needle to determine longitude and Charles asked them to study St. Pierre's proposal. The commission asked Flamsteed to report on it and he showed the method was theoretically sound, but was impractical as the positions of the moon and the stars were not known with sufficient accuracy.



In 2009 an engineering graduate from The University of Greenwich was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Charles Kuen Kao, a Chinese-born Briton, was awarded half of the prize for being the first person to develop efficient fibre optic cables. As a result of his work more than 1 billion kilometres of optical cables carry lightning fast broadband internet data to and from households and offices around the world. Two US physicists, Willard Sterling Boyle and George Smith, from Bell Labs in New Jersey, shared the second half of the prize for inventing the first digital imaging technology. Their work made digital cameras possible and has led to huge advances in medical and astronomical imaging technology.