Jeremiah Sisson

Jeremiah Sisson (1720-1783) was an English instrument maker who became one of the leaders of his profession in London. Jeremiah Sisson was the son of Jonathan Sisson, also a respected instrument maker, who trained him in the craft.[1][2]

Jeremiah Sisson
Equatorial sector by Jeremiah Sisson (1774), exhibited at Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milan
Born1720
Died1783
NationalityEnglish
OccupationInstrument maker

Sisson worked at a time when demand from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Ordnance Survey, and assistance from the Royal Society, had brought London instrument makers to a dominant position in supply of the technically demanding work of making instruments for astronomy, survey and navigation.[3] Sisson's father also employed John Bird, another supplier of instruments to the Royal Observatory.[4] Sisson employed Jesse Ramsden in his workshop, later to become a leading instrument maker in his own right.[1] According to Jean Bernoulli, among the London instrument makers in 1769 Sisson ranked after John Bird but ahead of Ramsden in his skill.[5]

Jeremiah Sisson supplied sectors and other astronomical instruments to Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory.[1] When Sisson went bankrupt, Maselyne gave him financial support.[6] Sisson was not a good businessman. Lalonde said of him that he began too many projects but completed none.[7] He was declared bankrupt in 1751.[8] He was jailed several times when he failed to pay his employees. He had been forced to pawn some of his instruments to raise cash, and these instruments were later sold by the pawnbroker for much less than they were worth.[9] In 1772 Sisson succeeded George Adams senior as supplier to the Board of Ordnance, but lost this business when he went bankrupt again in 1775.[10]

In 1773 Greenwich bought two sectors from Sisson.[11] An equatorial sector made by Sisson in 1774, with two lenses 10 centimetres (3.9 in) across and a long axis aligned to the North celestial pole, was still used in the Brera Astronomical Observatory in Milan (now exhibited at Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci). Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered the asteroid Esperia with this telescope on 26 April 1861.[12] Prince Carl Theodor, Elector Palatine, set up an observatory of the roof of his castle at Schwetzingen in 1764, directed by Christian Mayer (1719-1783).[13] A 12 feet (3.7 m) zenith sector made by Sisson was set up there in 1778. Meyer wanted to buy other instruments in 1782, but Sisson was busy with other work and only agreed to make a 6 feet (1.8 m) transit. On 21 March 1783 Meyer received a contract for the transit, countersigned by Maskelyn and the astronomer Thomas Hornsby of Oxford, to be made and delivered for 145 ​1⁄2 guineas.[14] Sisson died in 1783.

References

Citations

  1. Clifton 2011, p. 133-134.
  2. Shuckburgh 1793, p. 188.
  3. Heilbron 2003, p. 408-409.
  4. Clifton 2011, p. 131.
  5. Lützen 2001, p. 32.
  6. Clifton 2011, p. 137.
  7. Morrison-Low 2007, p. 147.
  8. Persons declared bankrupts - Jan 1751, p. 45.
  9. Smith & Findlen 2002, p. 378.
  10. McConnell 2007, p. 58.
  11. McConnell 2007, p. 97.
  12. Equatorial sector of Jeremiah Sisson.
  13. McConnell 2007, p. 117-118.
  14. McConnell 2007, p. 119.

Sources

  • Clifton, Gloria (11 November 2011). "Networks of Telescope Makers and the Evolution of Skill: Evidence from Observatory and Museum Collections". From Earth-Bound to Satellite: Telescopes, Skills and Networks. BRILL. p. 134. ISBN 978-90-04-21150-6. Retrieved 20 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Equatorial sector of Jeremiah Sisson". National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci". Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  • Heilbron, John L. (14 February 2003). The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511229-0. Retrieved 20 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lützen, Jesper (2001). Around Caspar Wessel and the Geometric Representation of Complex Numbers: Proceedings of the Wessel Symposium at The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen, August 11-15 1998. Invited Papers. Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. ISBN 978-87-7876-236-8. Retrieved 20 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • McConnell, Anita (2007). Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800): London's Leading Scientific Instrument Maker. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-7546-6136-8. Retrieved 2013-01-19.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Morrison-Low, A. D. (2007). Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-5758-3. Retrieved 20 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Persons declared bankrupts - Jan 1751". The general index as to twenty-seven volumes of the London magazine, viz, from 1732 to 1758 inclusive. R. Baldwin. 1751. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  • Shuckburgh, Sir George (1793). "An Account of the Equatorial Instrument". The British Critic. F. and C. Rivington. Retrieved 2013-01-19.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Smith, Pamela H.; Findlen, Paula (2002). Merchants & Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe. Routledge. p. 378. ISBN 978-0-415-92815-1. Retrieved 20 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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