2019 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Scottish Astronomer Royal and polymath, Charles Piazzi Smyth. This special exhibition presents the story of this extraordinary man, whose pioneering work at Calton Hill changed the practice of astronomy across the world.
In 1856, Piazzi Smyth and his wife Jessie left the murky Edinburgh skies for the peaks of Tenerife to demonstrate the benefits of observing the sky from the top of mountains. Loaded with equipment and telescopes, this was an adventure which would forever change the way we look at the stars.
This new exhibition and short film unfold his skills as a photographic and spectrographic pioneer, inventor of mountain top astronomy, popular author, Egyptologist and originator of the One O’Clock Gun and Time Ball.
Charles Piazzi Smyth 200
