Flamsteed's Correspondence
As late as 1965, the historian Charles Webster was able to describe Towneley as "this mysterious figure of seventeenth century science" due to the fact that information about him was scattered through many works. Only one complete piece of work by Towneley survives, titled "Short Considerations uppon Mr. Hookes Attempt for the Explication of Waters Ascent into small Glasse Canes with praeliminarie Discourse" and dated Ap. 20, 1667. This autograph manuscript was lot 128 in a sale of the Towneley family's manuscripts sold in 1883. According to Webster it is now in Yale University Library. Hooke's first publication, in 1661, was a pamphlet on capillary action.
In 1970, Derek Howse brought to more general attention a collection of some seventy letters written between 1673 and 1688 by John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, to Towneley. This collection of letters was acquired by the Royal Society in 1891. Professor Eric G. Forbes (1933–1984) recognised that a large amount of Flamsteed's correspondence had survived and began to collect and collate copies. This important work was continued after his death and was published from 1995. The Flamsteed correspondence explains how Towneley and Flamsteed began a correspondence that provides a unique insight into the early years of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
Flamsteed's first regular correspondent was John Collins(1625–1683), who corresponded extensively with many mathematicians including Towneley. From their correspondence it appears Flamsteed visited London in June 1670, when Jonas Moore (1617–1679) gave him the micrometer illustrated by Hooke in 1667. Both Collins and Moore advised Flamsteed to contact Towneley in order to make best use of the micrometer and Flamsteed first wrote to Towneley on 24 January 1671.
Flamsteed first visited Towneley Hall in 1671 to use the library there. Much later, when writing to William Molyneux (1656–1698), Flamsteed recorded how Christopher Towneley (1604–1674) and Moore had collected the papers of Gascoigne, along with some of Horrox and Cabtree. These eventually went into the library at Towneley. Flamsteed claimed that reading Gascoigne's papers in less than two hours provided him with the foundations for his understanding of optics. He returned for a longer stay in September 1672 to make measurements, together with Towneley, of the conjunction of the planet Mars with fixed stars with the intention of estimating the size of the solar system. Due to adverse weather conditions, Flamsteed only achieved his objective when he returned to Derbyshire later the same week.
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