Observatory House | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Municipal headquarters |
Architectural style | Modernist |
Location | 25 Windsor Street, Slough, England |
Coordinates | 51°30′30″N0°35′43″W / 51.5082°N 0.5954°W |
Completed | Early 1990s (refurbished 2017) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 10 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Elsworth Sykes Architects (for the refurbishment in 2017) |
Main contractor | Kier Group (for the refurbishment in 2017) |
Observatory House was the name of an 18th-century observatory established by William and Caroline Herschel in Windsor Street, Slough. After the original building had been demolished, the name was re-applied to a modern office block on the same site which now serves as the headquarters of Slough Borough Council.
The original Observatory House was built, run and used by the astronomer William Herschel, and his sister Caroline. The famous '40-foot telescope' - at that time the largest in the world - was housed there in the late 18th century and early 19th century. [1] [2]
The main house was on Windsor Road. There was also a small cottage on the land. Herschel moved there on 3 April 1786. John Herschel was born in the house, and William died there on 25 August 1822. [3] John Herschel and his family moved out of the house to Hawkhurst in 1840. [4] However, the house continued to be owned by the Herschel family until 1960. [5] There is a poignant section of one of the early programmes by Sir Patrick Moore on BBC "The Sky at Night", which was aired in 1960. Moore talks about the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel and how he (Moore) had visited the house, which was "now empty and likely to be demolished." In the garage was a section of the 40 ft telescope still sitting there. [6] Observatory House was demolished in 1963. [7]
In the mid-1960s, the site was redeveloped with an office block, also called Observatory House, being erected there, while the adjoining road to the north was named Hershel Street in recognition of the astronomers. A monument to Herschel was erected in 1969 on Herschel Street, close to where the 40-foot telescope was located. The monument was designed by the Czech sculptor Franta Belsky. [3] [8]
The site was redeveloped again in the early 1990s, with the new building again called Observatory House. The building was then refurbished by Kier Group [9] to a design by Elsworth Sykes Architects ("ESA") for developers, XLB, in 2017. [10] [11] Following completion of the works, the 10-storey building was bought by Slough Borough Council in July 2018 for a reported £41.3 million and converted to become the council's main offices and meeting place, with the first council meetings in the building being held in September 2019. [12] [13]
Frederick William Herschel was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen.
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work.
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passed through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and the clipper ship Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich.
Slough is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley 20 miles (32 km) west of central London and 19 miles (31 km) north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021 Census, the population of the town was 143,184. In 2021, the wider Borough of Slough had a population of 158,500. Slough borders the ceremonial counties of Greater London and Buckinghamshire.
Infrared astronomy is a sub-discipline of astronomy which specializes in the observation and analysis of astronomical objects using infrared (IR) radiation. The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers, and falls in between visible radiation, which ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers, and submillimeter waves.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel was a German astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet, which bears her name. She was the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked throughout her career.
The year 1787 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Sir James South was a British astronomer.
The William Herschel Telescope (WHT) is a 4.20-metre (165 in) optical/near-infrared reflecting telescope located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The telescope, which is named after William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, is part of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes. It is funded by research councils from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain.
The Herschel Museum of Astronomy at 19 New King Street, Bath, England, is a museum that was inaugurated in 1981. It is located in a town house that was formerly the home of William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
František Bělský was a Czech-British sculptor.
The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021. Herschel carries a 3.5-metre (11.5 ft) mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands (55–672 μm). Herschel was the fourth and final cornerstone mission in the Horizon 2000 programme, following SOHO/Cluster II, XMM-Newton and Rosetta.
William Herbert Steavenson FRAS was an English amateur astronomer.
Slough is a town and unitary authority in the English county of Berkshire, just to the west of Greater London. Until 1974 the town was in Buckinghamshire.
William Herschel's 40-foot telescope, also known as the Great Forty-Foot telescope, was a reflecting telescope constructed between 1785 and 1789 at Observatory House in Slough, England. It used a 48-inch (120 cm) diameter primary mirror with a 40-foot-long (12 m) focal length. It was the largest telescope in the world for 50 years. It may have been used to discover Enceladus and Mimas, the 6th and 7th moons of Saturn. It was dismantled in 1840 by Herschel's son John Herschel due to safety concerns; today the original mirror and a 10-foot (3.0 m) section of the tube remain.
Slough was, from 1863 to 1974, a local government district in southern Buckinghamshire, England. It became an urban district in 1894 and was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1938. It was abolished in 1974 and now forms part of the borough of Slough in Berkshire.
The Royal Observatory of Madrid is a historic observatory situated on a small hill next to the Buen Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1790 and has been engaged in continuous scientific activity since then. It is currently the seat of the Spanish National Observatory and an active research group in geophysics, both belonging to the National Geographic Institute.
Herschel Park is a public park in Upton, a suburb of Slough in Berkshire. It is owned and managed by Slough Borough Council. It is in two adjacent areas. The larger area of 4.2-hectare (10-acre) in the north is a Local Nature Reserve. The more formal area in the north is a Grade II listed park.
Slough Town Hall is a former municipal building in Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire, England. The town hall was the headquarters of Slough Borough Council until 2011. The building has been used as a school since 2012.
Herschel und die Musik der Sterne is a 1986 television film written, produced, and directed by Percy Adlon. Anneliese Goldman briefly reviewed the film in 1986, concluding that "The superb nuances and timing of all the performances, together with Haydn's music and Adlon's inventive use of video, make this "chamber piece" a treat for the eye, ear and mind."
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