Radcliffe Observatory

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Radcliffe Observatory was founded at Oxford University (Oxford, England) in 1772. It is known by that name as it was founded by the Radcliffe Trustees, after John Radcliffe. The astronomer Thomas Hornsby, who was occupying the Savilian Chair of Astronomy, also assisted in its establishment. The observatory building commenced to designs by Henry Keene in 1772, was completed in 1794 to the designs of James Wyatt, based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.

Until 1839, the Savilian Chair of Astronomy was responsible for the observatory, at this date the appointment of George Henry Sacheverell Johnson an astronomer with no observational experience caused the creation of the new role of Radcliffe Observer.

The following have been Radcliffe Observers:

1839 Manuel John Johnson
1860 Robert Main
1879 Edward James Stone
1897 Arthur Alcock Rambaut
1924 Harold Knox-Shaw
1950 David Thackeray

Because of the viewing conditions, weather, and urban development at Oxford, the observatory was moved to South Africa in 1939. Eventually that site, in Pretoria, also became untenable and the facility was combined with others into the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in the 1970s.

The building is now used by Green College, Oxford off the Woodstock Road and forms a centrepiece for the college. The original instruments are located in the Museum of the History of Science in central Oxford.