A CELEBRATION OF THE HISTORY, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF RECHERCHE BAY
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Auditorium Hobart, Tasmania
26–28 February 2007

Magnetic measurements in Van Diemen's Land
Emeritus Professor Roderick Home, FAHA

Roderick Home was Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne, 1975-2003, and is now Emeritus Professor. He has published widely on the history of physics, especially in the 18th century, and on the history of Australian science, and is Editor of the journal Historical Records of Australian Science. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a member of the International Academy of the History of Science.

During the eighteenth century, it became customary for ship-borne explorers from time to time to make measurements of the Earth's magnetic field, and measurements of this kind were made by d'Entrecasteaux and his companions at Recherche Bay in 1792. Subsequently, in the early 1840s, a magnetic observatory – the Rossbank Observatory – was established in Hobart and continued in operation for almost fifteen years. I shall draw on extensive unpublished records relating to the Rossbank Observatory to discuss the changing nature of the measurements that were taken, the rationale that lay behind them and the use that was made of them, and also the place of the work that was done in the wider history of Australian science.