London, England/london2G-890
Previous | Home | NextThis is a photograph of the Solar Physics Observatory in 1893, kindly made available by the Imperial College Library. Lockyer (who had suggested the name "helium" to the element spectroscopically discovered in the sun {LINK: London5-035}) had moved to South Kensington in 1873 and had erected in temporary wood and canvas structures his observatory. This was in the garden of the Royal Horticultural Society. He oversaw the construction of the observatory in 1879 and became Director in 1885. This was the future site of the Science Museum. In 1913 the observatory was moved, first to Cambridge and then to Sidmouth, Devonshire where the Lockyer retirement home was located.
