The Royal Greenwich Observatory was established by King Charles II on June 22, 1675, by a royal warrant. The primary purpose for creating the observatory was to create a scientific institution to determine longitude at sea to improve the safety and efficiency of sea navigation.
Milestones:
March 4, 1675 - On 4 March 1675 Charles II, appoints John Flamsteed to be the ‘astronomical observator’ – a post later to be known as the Astronomer Royal. A royal warrant authorized an annual payment to Flamsteed of £100.
June 22, 1675 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory is established by King Charles II, by a royal warrant authorizing its construction. "The Royal Observatory is Britain’s founded for the specific and practical purpose of ‘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 of Places for perfecting the art of Navigation".
August 10, 1675 - Construction of the The Greenwich Royal Observatory starts as the foundation stone is laid by John Flamsteed.
March, 1675 - Christopher Wren, best known as the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, was tasked with designing the Royal Observatory. Wren suggested using the ruined Greenwich Castle as the site for the new observatory. The old castle's solid foundations could be repurposed and, because it was located in a Royal Park, the land already belonged to the Crown.
July 10, 1676 - The observatory was completed by Sir Christopher Wren and established on the site of the former castle and Flamsteed moves in.
The Greenwich observatory is considered as the birthplace of modern astronomy, and the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. More
