A model instrument: the making and the unmaking of a model of the Airy Transit Circle

Abstract

The Airy Transit Circle defined the position of the Greenwich Prime Meridian for decades. A set of models depicting the celebrated instrument and its parts was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1855. After the exhibition, the models were transferred for display at the South Kensington Museum, where it remained until it was deaccessioned in 1928. The article investigates why the set of models were seen as ‘mysterious’ in both Paris and London, despite being the instrument that marked Longitude Zero for the British Empire, and why such a prestigious instrument failed to capture the public imagination. This is shown by highlighting the contradictory interpretations of the models by the various networks of individuals and institutions within which they were discussed and transmitted.

Keywords

• royal observatory
• greenwich
• sir george biddell airy
• airy transit circle
• exposition universelle 1855
• south kensington museum
• history of models