This manuscript has been in my possession for more than 20 years. It is an intriguing tale that sheds light on the febrile state of 1930s Britain, and some of those who went the extra mile to defend the national interest. I am delighted to be finally able to …
Last summer I found a manuscript at The Observatory. The story it relates is quite extraordinary. With a little difficulty, I tracked down its author, who agreed, with some conditions, that I could share his work. Here it is – free to view or download on Issu:
Frederick W. Duthie This article first appeared in The Journal Of The Institute of Electrical Engineers in April 1996. It appears on this site courtesy of its author. Fred Duthie, a Strathclyde University-educated Aberdonian who researched Forbes’ life during a career with Morganite Incorporated, of Dunn, North Carolina USA. Morganite …
The transit of venus is among the most important astronomical phenomena, as the article below, reproduced with permission from The Sunday Times June 06, 2004, explains. The choice of Forbes to play such an important role in the observations of 1874 give some idea of the regard …
In 1966 the Corries made this video, I think for W Gordon Smith’s Hoot’nanny program on BBC Scotland. It is one of a series made for that program in which folk singers intoned in locations related to their ballads. Some have suggested that these were a forerunner of the ‘pop …
From the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (New Edition) edited by Francis H Groom and published in 1895 by William McKenzie of London This is a direct reproduction of the entry on Pitlochry, from this most remarkable six-volume reference on Scotland – possibly the most comprehensive and useful guide to Scotland …
There are numerous figures of whom it is said that Britain and her allies would have lost World War Two but for their contribution – Sir Robert Watson-Watt among them. Which of these was the most significant is hard to tell, but Watston-Watt’s pioneering role in the development of radar, …
Dame Kathryn Jane Trefusis Forbes will forever be remembered as the first director of the Women’s Air Auxiliary Force (WAFF) – the female support organisation to the Royal Air Force. She took up the post, at the organisations inauguration, in July 1939 on the eve of the outbreak of …
George Forbes was an outstanding product of Victorian academia and industry whose contribution to electrical engineering benefits us to this day. He was also a gifted astronomer and led the British party to observe the Transit of Venus from Hawaii in 1874. He wrote and lectured widely about astronomy for …
