Report of the Historical Section 2005
Introduction
The past year (calendar year 2004) had its highlights concerning the history of astronomy.
Website
The part of the ASSA website dedicated to the Historical Section has been updated in August 2004. Some content has been added, especially in regard to the transit of Venus, a few prominent observers, Bronberg and Boyden Observatories and the Grubb 8-inch telescope.
A second update occured in October 2004. Some content has been added, especially in regard to the early days of the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, with all the astronomers involved . Many thanks to Auke Slotegraaf, the webmaster, for all his help with the website.
Archive
The archive has received new material during the past year from G G Cillié. During the past year all the material that was stored in boxes at my house, and archival material of ASSA Council were added together and sorted into approximate categories. Due to the complexities and scope of the task the indexing the archive will still take some time.
Activities
A transit of Venus occurred on 8 June 2004. Because of the rarity and public relations value, many astronomical groups around the country closely observed the event. Due to its historical significance some of the observing events were at sites of historical value, such as Touwsrivier and Wellington. Major centres also monitored the event and reports were received from Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, Bloemfontein, Graaff-Reinet and Harare. The events were not organised by this Section but I am sure that in addressing the public some historical content was explained.
Magda Streicher was approached by an estate agent who informed her that a farm with an observatory in Haenertsburg, Northern Province, was for sale. After visiting the farm she realised that it was the place of retirement for Cyril Jackson, a prominent South African astronomer who discovered 72 asteroids and three comets. Due to her initiative the site is now registered at the National Monuments Council and a museum was established. She gave a talk at the ASSA Symposium held at Johannesburg.
Publications
Individuals in their private capacities wrote articles with historical content. Please note my appreciation to the following people:
T.P. Cooper, B. Fraser, D. Cooper, M. Hoffman and B. van Zyl for their publication on A.W. Roberts in MNASSA (vol 63, nos 11 & 12, December 2004). Roberts worked on variable stars and made approximately 70 000 observations. His work was never published and the Bloemfontein Centre found his observation catalogue. With a grant from the AAVSO the observations are being captured electronically to add to their database.
Willie Koorts published articles in preparation for the transit of Venus. ("The 1882 transit of Venus: The British expeditions to South Africa", MNASSA, vol 63, nos 3 & 4, April 2004).
Obituaries
MNASSA published obituaries on Janet Mattei (not South African but with strong links to this country; MNASSA Vol 63, nos 5 & 6, June 2004) and Albert Jansen (MNASSA Vol 63 nos 7 & 8, August 2004).
I would like to thank A Slotegraaf and fellow contributors for their hard work in preparing the obituaries.
Symposium
A committee has been formed to organise an international symposium on the Astronomical History of Africa (AAHS). Everything is coming together nicely and the event will be held at the Observatory grounds in Cape Town, 8 and 9 November 2005. Attendees will have the chance to be present at the official opening of SALT on 11 November.
Report of the Historical Section 2004
The past year had its highlights concerning the History of Astronomy.
Website
The ASSA web site has undergone a major overhaul during the past year. The part of the web site dedicated to the Historical Section also greatly benefited from the overhaul. The layout of the site is much improved, and it is easier to read and find information. Some content has been added, especially in regard to the Natal Observatory. Many thanks to Auke Slotegraaf, the webmaster, for all his help.
Archive
The archive has received no new material during the past year. Due to the complexities and scope of the task of indexing the archive this will be done sometime in the future.
Activities
The Bloemfontein Centre of the Society is once again very active in the historical field. They are the only centre with a dedicated historical section, and with a website [http://www.geocities.com/assabfn/spacetides/historicalnotes.htm] dedicated to the topic.
A great deal of basic research was done especially regarding the Lamont Hussey observatory. Persons who had dealings with the observatory were interviewed, lost and forgotten instruments were recovered and stored for safekeeping at the Ehrlich Park Fire Station Museum (now also an Astronomy Museum).
Publications
Individuals in their private capacities wrote articles with historical content. Please note my appreciation to the following people:
During the past year articles were published in MNASSA covering the proceedings of the Fifth Astronomy Symposium. Contributions with historical content were made by:
•Jan Hers ( "Variable Stars in South Africa – A Historical Review")
•Rupert Hurley ("de la Caille at the Cape")
•Tim Cooper ("A History of Comet Discovery")
•Dr Wayne Orchiston published an insightful article titled "J.F. Skjellerup: A forgotten name in South African cometary astronomy" (MNASSA 62, 3&4).
•Dr Ian Glass published an article titled "A Biographical Index to MNASSA and JASSA". This is an index of all the mentions made of prominent astronomers in MNASSA, and its predecessor JASSA. This is a necessary and excellent publication and a great example of the essence of historical research. To the historian sources are the core of his trade and this article directly addresses this issue (MNASSA 62, 11&12).
•Willie Koorts published articles in preparation for the transit of Venus. One article was on the British expeditions to South Africa, and another about the American expedition to Wellington. ("The 1882 transit of Venus and the Huguenot Seminary for Girls" (MNASSA 62, 9&10) and "The 1882 transit of Venus: The British expeditions to South Africa" (MNASSA 63 3&4) ).
Future plans
The Historical Section is proud to announce that it will host an international symposium on the astronomical history of Africa. Interested persons were contacted and a committee to organise the event and referee the papers was put together. It is too soon to give details except that we plan to hold the symposium at approximately the same time as the official opening of SALT.
Chris de Coning (Director)
Report of the Historical Section 2003
The calendar year 2002 was an exciting year for the Historical Section. Much has been achieved.
In previous reports it was mentioned that the historical section is working on a database listing all observatories, people, telescopes, as well as anything else that may be of value to the history of astronomy in Southern Africa. The idea is to make the information available to all interested parties and in December 2002 that was achieved. The database has been transformed into a website. The address is [www.saao.ac.za/assa/index.html], which takes you to the ASSA homepage. From there, follow the link to the Historical Section.
In December ASSA held a very interesting symposium in Johannesburg as part of the preparations for the solar eclipse. During this symposium a series of very interesting talks on historical topics was given. It is interesting to note that the number of talks with historical content have increased from four at the previous conference to 10 with this conference.
One of the long-term goals of the Historical Section is to digitise our peer-review journal, MNASSA. Due to the huge scope of the project it was put aside for the time being. However, the American space agency NASA has offered to scan in, and thus digitise all previous copies of MNASSA and its predecessor JASSA. Auke Slotegraaf, Editor of MNASSA, sent them a full set of journals.
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