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[[Image:John Goldingham.png|thumb|John Goldingham]]
'''John Goldingham''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1767 - July 1849) was the first official astronomer of the [[Madras Observatory]], appointed in 1802. Goldingham was also an architect and surveyor who headed the Madras Survey School which later grew into the [[Guindy Engineering College]] and then [[Anna University]]. Born in [[London]] in 1767, Goldingham was first in the service of [[William Petrie]] at his private observatory and then hired by astronomer-sailor [[Michael Topping]] as his assistant in 1788.

John Goldingham succeeded Michael Topping as the Astronomer posted in Madras. Goldingham was put in charge of building an observatory in 1792, and later appointed as the Presidency Civil Engineer in 1800. Although a mathematician, he managed to learn both astronomy and engineering. He worked at around the same time as Colonel [[William Lambton|Lambton]] began the Trigonometrical Survey.

From 1787 observations were made on the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. Using the time taken for these, the longitudes were established. Goldingham estimated the Madras observatory at 18°17'21" E and these were used for a while by the Trigonometrical Survey. Goldingham was succeeded by [[Thomas Glanville Taylor|T. G. Taylor]] in 1831.<ref>{{cite book|title=A memoir on the Indian Surveys|author=Markham, Clements R.| pages=64–66|edition=2|year=1878|publisher=W.H. Allen and Co.|place=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/memoirontheindia025502mbp#page/n95/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Of the Difference of Longitudes Found by Chronometer, and by Correspondent Eclipses of the Satellites of Jupiter; with Some Supplementary Information Relative to Madras, Bombay, and Canton; as Also the Latitude and Longitude of Point de Galle and the Friar's Hood|author=Goldingham, J.|journal=Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=2| year=1822|page=177}}</ref>
[[File:Madras_map_Goldingham.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Madras in Goldingham's experiment to find the velocity of sound in 1823<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-107640/107640#page/n1/mode/2up |title=Experiments for ascertaining the velocity of sound, at Madras in the East Indies |first= John |last=Goldingham| year=1823|volume=113|pages=96–139}}</ref>]]
On April 20, 1796, he married Maria Louisa Popham, niece of [[Home Riggs Popham|Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham]], at St. Mary's in [[Fort St. George]]. They had two sons. In 1815 he married Ann Baxter and they had a son and two daughters.<ref>{{cite book|author=Phillimore, Colonel R.H. |year=1945|title= Historical records of the Survey of India. Volume I 18th century.|place= Dehra Dun|publisher= Survey of India|page=[https://archive.org/details/HistoricalRecordsOfSurveyOfIndiaVol1ByColRHPhillimore/page/n389 338]|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoricalRecordsOfSurveyOfIndiaVol1ByColRHPhillimore}}</ref>

In 1802, Goldingham formulated the [[Madras time]] which was 5 hours and 21 minutes ahead of [[GMT]] thus establishing the closest precedent to [[Indian Standard Time]] adopted a century later in 1906. In 1800, he designed the Banqueting Hall (now [[Rajaji Hall]]), for which he was granted a commission of 15% on all bills. After the Board of Directors found that Goldingham had drawn 22,500 [[Pagoda (coin)|pagodas]] as commission on the 180,000 spent on the work till September 1801, the commission was suspended.

He then returned to his work as Government Astronomer, in the course of which he published two volumes of observations: one of them contains his observations on the length of the pendulum, the velocity of sound, of meteorological phenomena, as well as determinations of the longitude of Madras, and a discussion of the longitudes of the three Presidencies.

He retired back to England, where he died at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], in July 1849. He was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], the [[Royal Geographical Society]], and the [[Royal Astronomical Society]].

==Publications==
* [https://archive.org/details/jstor-107679 Observations for Ascertaining the Length of the Pendulum at Madras in the East Indies, Latitude 134'19".1 N. with the Conclusions drawn from the Same.] [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] 112 (1822): 127–70.
* [https://archive.org/stream/journalofasiatic11asia#page/18/mode/2up A Method of Rectifying a Route Protraction.] Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1 (1832): 19–20.
* [https://archive.org/details/philtrans08612626 Of the Difference of Longitudes found by Chronometer, and by correspondent Eclipses of the Satellites of Jupiter, with some supplementary Information relative to Madras, Bombay, and Canton; as also the Latitude and Longitude of Point de Galle and the Friar's Hood.] [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] 112 (1822): 431–36.
* [https://archive.org/details/philtrans03335485 Of the Geographical Situation of the Three Presidencies, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, in the East Indies.] [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] 112 (1822): 408–30.
* [https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/238682 Madras Observatory Papers.] Madras: College Press, 1827.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] Vol 10, 1849–50
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080502150728/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2003/01/06/stories/2003010600140300.htm Snared in the Net], ''[[The Hindu]]''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldingham, John}}
[[Category:1767 births]]
[[Category:18th-century British astronomers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
[[Category:1849 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Indian astronomers]]

John Goldingham - Revision history

>Rathfelder at 10:56, 25 June 2021