• 3340 BC – Earliest believed record of an eclipse.

• Eclipse

  This article is about astronomical eclipses.

  "Total eclipse" redirects here. 

  

  Totality during the 2000 solar eclipse. Solar prominences can be seen along the limb (in red) as well as extensive coronalfilaments.

  An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. An eclipse is a type of syzygy.

  The term eclipse is most often used to describe either a solar eclipse, when the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's surface, or a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. However, it can also refer to such events beyond the Earth–Moon system: for example, a planet moving into the shadow cast by one of its moons, a moon passing into the shadow cast by its host planet, or a moon passing into the shadow of another moon. A binary star system can also produce eclipses if the plane of the orbit of its constituent stars intersects the observer's position.

  Umbra, penumbra and antumbra

  

  Umbra, penumbra and antumbra cast by an opaque object occulting a larger light source.

  Main article: Umbra, penumbra and antumbra

  The region of the Moon's shadow in a solar eclipse is divided into three parts:

  • The umbra, within which the Moon completely covers the Sun (more precisely, its photosphere).
  • The antumbra, extending beyond the tip of the umbra, within which the Moon is completely in front of the Sun but too small to completely cover it.
  • The penumbra, within which the Moon is only partially in front of the Sun.

  During a lunar eclipse only the umbra and penumbra are applicable. This is because Earth's apparent diameter from the viewpoint of the Moon is nearly four times that of the Sun.

  The first contact occurs when the Moon's disc first starts to impinge on the Sun's; second contact is when the Moon's disc moves completely within the Sun's; third contact when it starts to move out of the Sun's; and fourth or last contact when it finally leaves the Sun's disc entirely.

  The same terms may be used analogously in describing other eclipses, e.g., the antumbra of Deimos crossing Mars, or Phobos entering Mars's penumbra.

  A total eclipse occurs when the observer is within the umbra, an annular eclipse when the observer is within the antumbra, and a partial eclipse when the observer is within the penumbra.

  For spherical bodies, when the occulting object is smaller than the star, the length (L) of the umbra's cone-shaped shadow is given by:

  

  where R_s is the radius of the star, R_o is the occulting object's radius, and r is the distance from the star to the occulting object. For Earth, on average L is equal to 1.384×10⁶ km, which is much larger than the Moon's semimajor axis of 3.844×10⁵ km. Hence the umbral cone of the Earth can completely envelop the Moon during a lunar eclipse.^[6] If the occulting object has an atmosphere, however, some of the luminosity of the star can be refracted into the volume of the umbra. This occurs, for example, during an eclipse of the Moon by the Earth—producing a faint, ruddy illumination of the Moon even at totality.

The Great Storm of 1703.

Great Storm of 1703

The Great Storm of 1703 was one of the most severe storms or natural disasters ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain. The storm came in from the southwest on 26 November 1703 (Julian calendar) or 7 December 1703 in the current calendar. Contemporary observers recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured byWilliam Derham in south Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands.Reaction In London, approximately 2,000 massive chimney stacks were blown down. The lead roofing was blown off Westminster Abbey and Queen Anne had to shelter in a cellar at St James's Palace to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof. On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London, the section downstream from London Bridge.HMS Vanguard was wrecked at Chatham. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's HMS Association was blown from Harwich to Gothenburg in Sweden before way could be made back to England. Pinnacles were blown from the top of King’s College Chapel, in Cambridge.There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the West Country, particularly around Bristol. Hundreds of people drowned in flooding on the Somerset Levels, along with thousands of sheep and cattle, and one ship was found 15 miles (24 km) inland. At Wells, Bishop Richard Kidder was killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on him and his wife, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in Wells Cathedral. Major damage occurred to the southwest tower of Llandaff Cathedral at Cardiff. At sea, many ships (some of which were returning from helping Archduke Charles, the claimed King of Spain, fight the French in the War of the Spanish Succession) were wrecked, including on the Goodwin Sands, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland, HMS Mary, and HMS Restoration, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 and 15,000 lives were lost overall. The first Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth was destroyed on 27 November 1703 (Old Style), killing six occupants, including its builder Henry Winstanley (John Rudyard was later contracted to build the second lighthouse on the site). A ship torn from its moorings in the Helford River in Cornwall was blown for 200 miles (320 km) before grounding eight hours later on the Isle of Wight. The number of oak trees lost in the New Forest alone was 4,000.The storm of 1703 caught a convoy of 130 merchant ships and their Man of War escorts, theDolphin, the Cumberland, the Coventry, the Looe, the Hastings and the Hector sheltering at Milford Haven. By 3 pm the next afternoon losses included 30 vessels.

EditThe storm, unprecedented in ferocity and duration, was generally reckoned by witnesses to represent the anger of God – in recognition of the "crying sins of this nation." The government declared 19 January 1704 a day of fasting, saying it "loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of our people." It remained a frequent topic of moralizing in sermons well into the nineteenth century.^[6]

The Royal Society

• 1660 – At Gresham College, twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society.

• Gresham College.

  
  

  
  

  Barnard's Inn Hall, the current home of Gresham College
  Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.

  
  

  Edit

  Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, left his estate jointly to the City of London Corporation and to the Mercers' Company, which today support the college through the Joint Grand Gresham Committee under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of London. Gresham's will provided for the setting up of the College – in Gresham's mansion inBishopsgate, on the site now occupied by Tower 42, the former NatWest Tower – and endowed it with the rental income from shops sited around the Royal Exchange, which Gresham had established.

  The early success of the College led to the incorporation of the Royal Society in 1663,which pursued its activities at the College in Bishopsgate before moving to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. The College remained in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate until 1768, and moved about London thereafter until the construction in 1842 of its own buildings in Gresham Street EC2. Gresham 
  College did not become part of the University of Londonon the founding of the University in the 19th century, although a close association between the College and the University persisted for many years. Since 1991, the College has operated at Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn EC1.

  Professors.

  
  

  Gresham College, engraving by George Vertue, 1740

  The seven original Gresham College Professorships that date back to the origins of the college are as follows:

  • Astronomy
  • Divinity
  • Geometry
  • Law
  • Music
  • Physic
  • Rhetoric

  These original endowed chairs reflect the curriculum of the medieval university (the triviumand quadrivium); but as a place for the public and frequent voicing of new ideas, the college played an important role in the Enlightenment and in the formation of the Royal Society. Early famous Gresham College professors have included Christopher Wren, who lectured on astronomy in the 17th century, and Robert Hooke, who was Professor of Geometry from 1665 until 1704.
  
  The professors received £50 a year, and the terms of their position were very precise, for example:

  The geometrician is to read as followeth, every Trinity term arithmetique, in Michaelmas and Hilary terms theoretical geometry, in Easter term practical geometry. The astronomy reader is to read in his solemn lectures, first the principles of the sphere, and the theory of the planets, and the use of the astrolabe and the staff, and other common instruments for the capacity of mariners. 

  Today, the professors hold their positions for three years, and give six lectures a year. There are regular visiting professors appointed to give series of lectures at the college and an eighth full chair, of Commerce, joined the original seven in 1985.

  Gresham College todayEdit

  Since 2000, the college regularly welcomes visiting speakers who deliver lectures on topics outside its usual range, and it also hosts occasional seminars and conferences. Today the college provides over 140 lectures a year, all of which are free and open to the public.

  Although many of the lectures are held in Barnard’s Inn Hall, the majority are now held in the lecture hall at the Museum of London, for reasons of capacity.

  Since 2001, the college has been recording its lectures and releasing them online in what is now an archive of over 1,000 lectures. Annual lectures of particular note hosted by the college include: the Gresham Special Lecture, the Sir Thomas Gresham Docklands Lecture, the Annual Lord Mayor’s Lecture, the Gray’s Inn Reading and the Boyle Lecture.

1120 November 25th. The Sinking of the White Ship.

This article is about the twelfth-century vessel. 

The White Ship sinking

The White Ship (French: la Blanche-Nef) was a vessel that sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast offBarfleur, on 25 November 1120. Only two of those aboard survived. Those who drowned included William Adelin, the only surviving legitimate son and heir of King Henry I of England. William Adelin's death led to a succession crisis and a period of civil war in England known as the Anarchy

Shipwreck

The White Ship was a new vessel captained by Thomas FitzStephen, whose father Stephen FitzAirard had been captain of the ship Mora for William the Conqueror when he invaded England in 1066. FitzStephen offered his ship to Henry I of England to use it to return to England from Barfleur in Normandy. Henry had already made other arrangements, but allowed many in his retinue to take the White Ship, including his heir, William Adelin; his illegitimate son Richard of Lincoln; his illegitimate daughter Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche; and many other nobles. According to chronicler Orderic Vitalis, the crew asked William Adelin for wine and he supplied it to them in great abundance. By the time the ship was ready to leave there were about 300 people on board although some had disembarked before the ship sailed due to the excessive drinking.

The ship's captain, Thomas FitzStephen, was ordered by the revellers to overtake the king's ship which had already sailed.  The White Ship was fast, of the best construction and had recently been fitted with new materials which made the captain and crew confident they could reach England first. But when it set off in the dark, its port side struck a submerged rock and the ship quickly capsized. William Adelin had got into a small boat and could have escaped but turned back to try to rescue his half-sister, Matilda, when he heard her cries for help. His boat was swamped by others trying to save themselves, and William drowned along with them.According to Orderic Vitalis only two survived by clinging to the rock all night; one was a butcher from Rouen, the second was Geoffrey de l'Aigle. The chronicler further claimed that when Thomas FitzStephen came to the surface after the sinking and learned that William Adelin had not survived, he let himself drown rather than face the King.

The cause of the shipwreck remains uncertain and various stories surround its loss. The most frequently aired version of events is that of a drinking binge by the crew and passengers. When seabound the captain became reckless and dared to try to overtake the King's ship once outside the harbour walls. It is also told that priests were not allowed on board to bless the ship in the customary manner.

Repercussion

Main article: The Anarchy

A direct result of William Adelin's death was the period known as the Anarchy. The White Ship disaster had left Henry I with only one legitimate child, a second daughter namedMatilda. Although Henry I had forced his barons to swear an oath to support Matilda as his heir on several occasions, a 

woman had never ruled in England in her own right. Matilda was also unpopular because she was married to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, a traditional enemy of England's Norman nobles. Upon Henry's death in 1135, the English barons were reluctant to accept Matilda as queen Regnant.

One of Henry I's male relatives, Stephen of Blois, the king's nephew by his sister Adela, usurped Matilda as well as his older brothers William and Theobald to become king. Stephen had allegedly planned to travel on the White Ship but had disembarked just before it sailed;  Orderic Vitalis attributes this to a sudden bout of diarrhea. 

After Henry I's death, Matilda and her husband Geoffrey of Anjou, the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty, launched a long and devastating war against Stephen and his allies for control of the English throne. The Anarchy dragged from 1135 to 1153 with devastating effect, especially in southern England.