Early Career
Mason's early career was spent at the Royal Greenwich Observatory near London. He served as assistant astronomer from 1756 to 1760 under the Reverend James Bradley, the Astronomer Royal.
While employed at the Greenwich Observatory, Mason became familiar with Professor Tobias Mayer’s Tables of the Moon. The Lunar Tables were designed to solve the problem of determining longitude at sea, a challenge that frustrated scientists and navigators for decades. Mason worked throughout his life to perfect the Lunar Tables as a method of improving navigation at sea. In 1787, Mason was awarded £750 by the Board of Longitude for his work on perfecting the Tables.
Read more about this topic: Charles Mason
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Men and women are not born inconstant: they are made so by their early amorous experiences.”
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967)
“John Brown’s career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)