From Timeball to Atomic Clock

Description

A Hong Kong Government Publication The Royal Observatory, Hong Kong First published December 1983 Designed by Government Information Services Printed by the Government Printer Crown Copyright Reserved Any reproduction is an infringement of Crown Copyright unless official permission has been obtained from the Director of Information Services, Hong Kong. The early section of this book owes much to Royal Observatory, Hong Kong: A Brief General History, by the late Mr. L. Starbuck, Assistant Director, published in 1951. Other extracts have been taken from relevant annual reports of successive Directors of the Royal Observatory. Further references, including those written by Observatory staff, appear in the bibliography. Thanks are due to Mr. Ian Diamond, Archivist, Public Records Office of Hong Kong, and his staff, for assistance with old newspapers and official documents and letters. When quoting from written sources, only minor changes have been made in spelling and syntax to make them accord with modern style. (For example, Hong Kong, instead of Hong-kong or Hongkong. The use of Hong Kong and Kowloon as the official spelling of the place names was officially adopted in 1926.) If it was believed that a change would affect the sense of the original, detract from it, or possibly cause confusion, the original was left intact. This policy has - broadly - been followed with punctuation, bearing in mind the comment by Geoffrey R. Sayer in a note to his An Eastern Entrepot (HMSO, 1964): 'Generally the documents have been given as found, but occasionally some minor editing has been done regarding punctuation, since many 19th Century officials seem to have had only a cursory acquaintance with the principles of that art.' However, to avoid confusion, temperatures are given in degrees Celsius, even for periods long before the official adoption of the scale in Hong Kong. (For details of the change, see p. 104). Similarly, wind speeds are expressed in knots. A knot— one nautical mile an hour — is not a metric unit, but is widely used in meteorology, aviation and seafaring. One nautical mile is 1.852 kilometres. Dollars mentioned in the text are Hong Kong currency unless stated otherwise. Colleagues in the Information Services Department, Mr. Geoffrey V. Somcrs and Mr. Phillip Bruce, added substantially to the flavour of the book by providing historical details, particularly in relation to early weather phenomena. Finally, thanks are due to Mr. John Peacock, Director of the Royal Observatory, and his staff, for their invaluable assistance. Front Cover Crown Copyright Reserved Full Title Page Contents Foreword Introduction A MAN STRIKING A SMALL GONG DURING AN ECLIPSE. Ancient Chinese astronomical instruments at the Peking Observatory. The Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci found them to be 'finer than any in the Europe he had recently left.' The Emperor K'ang-hsi visiting the Peking church of the Jesuits, who took advantage of his interest in science and technology to try to further the Christian cause. Chapter 1 By Far The Best Spot Dr. William Doberck, a dedicated scientist, was the sometimes prickly first Government Astronomer-cum-Director of the Observatory, serving from 1884 to 1907 The time ball on Blackhead's Hill was raised manually and dropped precisely at 1 pm. To its left in this scent can be noted a plethora of wind and other signals. Frederick Figg's five-year Directorship included the passage of Halley's Comet in May, 1910, although to Figg's disappointment, overcast weather made observation difficult. Chapter 2 A Way Fly The Houses Chapter 3 Of Comets And Kings Following Hong Kong's surrender on Christmas Day, 1941, victorious Colonel Tanaka of the Japanese 229 Regiment looks over Lyemun Gap, across which his troops attacked. Elegan mansions look down the old reservoirs along Bown Road. Chapter 4 Unhappy Christmas Typhoon Wanda's 140-knot hammerblow in 1962 killed 130 people and sank or damaged more than 2000 craft, including the freighter Cronulla, seen capsized at North Point. Waves smash over the praya at Kennedy Town at the height of Typhoon Dot on July 17, 1973. Jumble of smashed cars at the foot of Ming Yuen Street, North Point, after a June deluge in 1966 sent water roaring down the slope. Chapter 5 The Cracking of The Hammers Above: How the 1874 typhoon destroyed the wall of the central pray a for the second time in seven years. Below: Devastation in the Happy Valley Cemetery, 1906. In only two hours the 'phenomenal velocity' of the 1906 typhoon killed up to 10000 people and (below) reduced parts of the waterfront to matchwood Above: Aftermath of the 1923 blow which caught Hong Kong badly by surprise. Below: In 1964 five typhoons hit Hong Kong; here scaffolding arches across Des Voeux Road. Chapter 6 From Time Ball To Atomic Clock Warnings and special weather information Aviation Weather Services Weather for shipping Rainmaking Climatological information services Meteorological satellite reception Application of satellite data Earthquakes Tsunami monitoring Upper air wind meteorological measurements Radiosonde ascents The Cora system Surface meteorological measurements Meteorological radar observations Royal Observatory computer use Geomagnetic measurements Air pollution meteorological studies Radioactivity measurements The Observatory's caesium beam atomic clock, nuclear age succesor to the time ball, provides a precise timing standard for commerce and industry. The Doppler acoustic radar measures horizontal and vertical winds at various heights. Satellite photographs give meteorologists accurate information about the movement of tropical cyclones. This is Typhoon Ellen which battered the territory in September 1983 Research and consultation Hong Kong's Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals Bibliography Index Back Cover